


you're such an ass (but oh, what an ass)

by annawritesthings



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - College/University, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Handcuffed Together, Handcuffs, IKEA, IKEA Furniture, M/M, Mentions of homophobia, Music Creation, Music class, No beta we die like Sunset Curve, One Shot, Party, Pride Parades, Secret Santa, Sharing a Bed, there's only one bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:22:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 32,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28271592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annawritesthings/pseuds/annawritesthings
Summary: Luke sees Julie arrive in an expensive car and decides she's a spoiled brat; Julie watches Luke strut around campus like he owns the place and is sure he's a dick. A year long glimpse into the changing relationship between two musicians, both lost in their own ways.An enemies to friends to lovers Juke!AU (with background Willex, a bit of Flynn and lots of band bonding).
Relationships: Alex & Flynn & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie & Willie, Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters, Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Flynn & Julie Molina, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 31
Kudos: 282





	you're such an ass (but oh, what an ass)

## \----- part i ----- 

Luke, Reggie and Alex are walking across campus, weaving their way through the throngs of students - both new (easily identified by both their nervousness and abundance of luggage) and returning (who walk more nonchalantly and are not weighed down with a multitude of bags). The three boys smile as they watch students rush towards friends that they haven’t seen in months - Alex, Reggie and Luke don’t have the excuse of having not seen each other but they hug enthusiastically all the same. 

“Back again, boys,” Luke sighs, mentally preparing himself for another year in the classroom.

“It’s good to be back,” Alex says.

Reggie and Luke glance at each other before turning to Alex with their eyebrows raised. 

“Nerd,” Reggie whispers.

Alex shoves Reggie’s shoulder, “shut up.”

“Come on, Reggie,” Luke says, grinning, “we both know Alex isn’t excited to be back because of our classes. He’s got a different reason to be excited - and that reason has a name.” Luke pauses dramatically, “his name is Willie!”

Luke ducks as Alex swipes at the back of his head whilst Reggie laughs heartily.

“I hate you guys,” Alex says, folding his arms across his chest.

Reggie continues to laugh as Luke winks at Alex. Luke grabs both Alex and Reggie’s hands and drags them to the flat, grassy area in the middle of campus. It has become a tradition for the three of them to sit on the grass and watch other students going about their business. People-watching ranks among Luke, Alex and Reggie’s favourite group activities (right behind playing their music, eating pizza and mocking Alex about his relationship with Willie - Alex gets his own back by pointing out their distinct lack of relationships).

The three teenagers make their way to their favourite spot on the grass: a slightly higher piece of ground, lined by flowers and shaded by a tall, willow tree. Alex folds gently to the ground as Luke and Reggie fling themselves to the grass, ending up on their stomachs, facing out towards the campus. 

Alex, Luke and Reggie spend the next hour or so discussing their band (Sunset Curve - _tell your friends!_ ); talking about their timetables (90% of their classes are shared so they can spend even more time together) and planning what they are going to eat next.

A shiny, black car draws onto campus, capturing the attention of Reggie who, although he has grown out of his car phase, recognises it as a very nice and very expensive car. Reggie nudges Alex and nods towards the car to get Luke’s attention. Luke glares at the car as if it personally offends him - Luke thinks that spending that much money on a car is a near-criminal offence, like, _seriously_ , who even does that? 

All three boys watch as the car stops and, after a brief pause, a curly-haired girl emerges from the passenger side, making her way quickly to the boot to grab her suitcase. The girl is wearing large sunglasses which she pushes up on to the top of her head before hugging the driver (Alex, Luke and Reggie assume he’s the girl’s father rather than some sort of sugar daddy situation but they don’t make any assumptions, weirder things have happened on this campus). 

As the car pulls away, the girl is left standing alone, glancing around, unsure and obviously unfamiliar in the surroundings. She takes her phone out of her pocket just as another girl (Flynn, Alex recognises) whoops excitedly, darts across the road, grabbing the curly-haired girl in an enthusiastic hug.

Alex, Luke and Reggie watch as the pair break apart and Flynn grabs the girl’s suitcase, dragging it along behind her as the girls walk away towards the nicer student accommodation.

“I wonder who that is,” Reggie says quizzically.

“Probably some spoilt brat,” Luke snorts. “Just look at her, arriving in that car and getting Flynn to carry her luggage.”

Alex rolls his eyes knowing Luke has issues with anyone who appears to be even slightly entitled, “chill out, man. We saw her arrive in a nice car and then a three-second interaction between her and Flynn - big deal!”

“I don’t trust people who drive expensive cars, you know this.”

Alex and Reggie glance at each other, exasperatedly. “Pretty sure, deep down, you’re just jealous,” Alex says as Reggie nods.

“That is not true!”

“Methinks he doth protest too much,” Reggie says.

Luke reaches up and punches Reggie in the arm before lying back in the grass, pillowing his head on his arm. “We’ll just have to wait and see. I bet she’ll turn out to be an untalented, stuck-up trust-fund kid who’s here because she did karaoke once and someone told her she was good.” 

Luke shuts his eyes before he sees Alex and Reggie roll their eyes at him.

“Ever heard the phrase, ‘you can’t judge a book by its cover’?” Alex asks.

“I can, and I will,” Luke replies without opening his eyes. “Now, when can we organise our next band practise?”

Alex grabs his phone to check the online timetable and the three boys spend the rest of the afternoon lying on the grass, working on a new song.

* * *

Julie leans against the window of her dad’s car, sunglasses over her eyes to hide her tears, fingernails pressing so hard into her palms that the crescent moon indents will show on her palms for hours afterwards. Her heart races in her chest as Ray pulls off of the motorway and onto the smaller roads that wind their way towards campus. Julie hasn’t felt this nervous in over a year, since the last time she had been somewhere new for the first time. 

“At least,” Julie thinks to herself, “this campus is nearer home. And Flynn will be here, that’s a positive.”

Ray slows to let a couple of students cross the road in front of them before pulling into a parking bay beside a large patch of grass where various students mill about, relaxed, carefree and enjoying the sunshine before classes start next week. As her dad kills the engine, Julie takes a deep breath, clutches the door handle and pops the door open, pocketing her phone as she exits the car.

Julie makes her way to the boot, grabbing her suitcase before sliding her sunglasses onto the top of her head, turning to face her dad.

“You’ll do great here, sweetheart,” Ray says, reaching up to wipe away a stray tear that trickles down Julie’s cheek. “Your mum would be so proud of you.”

Julie sniffs, trying to force the rest of her tears to stay in her eyes. She gives her dad a watery smile, “thanks, Dad. I’m so nervous though.”

Ray returns her smile, “that’s completely normal. Just remember - you deserve to be here and we are all so proud of you.”

Julie reaches up on her tip-toes to throw her arms around her dad’s shoulders, “I love you, Dad.”

“I love you too, _mija_.”

Julie releases Ray and takes a step back onto the kerb. Her dad gets back into the car and, over the roar of the engine, he shouts a final goodbye as he pulls out and back onto the road.

Julie looks around, struggling to remember any of this campus from the tour she’d been on several months ago. The flat grassy area is familiar, and Julie remembers that there is a coffee shop nearby but apart from that, everything is confusing. Julie had only really paid attention to the music rooms - one particular practice room, in particular, had caught her eye, a classic grand piano taking up the corner of the room. When Julie had visited the sunlight had been streaming through the window, beams of the soft light landing directly on the piano’s surface. She had taken it as a sign from her mum - Julie was meant to come here; destined to play that piano. 

Julie glances around again before snagging her phone out of her pocket. Flynn had promised to meet her here, at the green, to walk her to their flat (Julie knew she’d get lost if she tried to find her way herself - her sense of direction is notorious amongst her friends and family). 

Before she can even get her phone unlocked, Julie hears an excited and familiar shout. Looking up, Julie is relieved to see Flynn making her way towards her. Although she hasn’t seen Flynn face-to-face in almost a year, Flynn flings her arms around Julie in a tight hug.

“It’s so good to see you, Jules,” Flynn says. “I’m so excited you’re here!”

Julie smiles into Flynn’s shoulder, “I’m happy to be here too. I can’t believe it’s been so long!”

Flynn releases Julie from the hug, leaving her hands on Julie’s shoulders to take a step back and look her friend up and down. “You look good, girl,” Flynn smiles, “I see you’re still wearing the friendship bracelet I made for you.”

“I never take it off!”

Flynn and Julie exchange another excited grin before Flynn swoops in and snags Julie’s suitcase, wheeling it along behind her as she leads Julie to their flat.

“This year is going to be amazing! You’re going to love our flat.”

“I hope you’re up for helping me decorate - you’re the fashionable one of us,” Julie says.

“Oh hush!” Flynn says, “you’re plenty fashionable. But you know I never turn down a trip to IKEA.”

Julie laughs, IKEA was a favourite haunt of Flynn and Julie during their teenage years: designing their dream houses then eating meatballs and ice-cream? Their definition of perfection.

“I’m also looking forward to getting Double Trouble back together again. I bet you’ve got some new hits for us.”

Julie winces at Flynn’s enthusiasm, “you know I’ve still not really played or sung yet, right?”

“Yeah, I know,” Flynn shrugs, “but I think that’ll change soon.”

“Oh,” Julie quirks an eyebrow, “and how do you know that?”

Flynn turns to her, a megawatt smile in place, “I can feel it in my bones. This is going to be a great year!”

Julie laughs but has no choice but to take her friend’s word for it, Flynn seems so sure. Julie links her arm through Flynn’s and the pair make their way to their flat, intent on spending the rest of the day unpacking and catching up on the years they had spent apart. 

## \----- part ii -----

The first few weeks of the semester pass by quickly. Flynn takes Julie on several tours of the campus, making sure to mark each of the important buildings in Julie’s phone map (“I remember you getting lost on the walk from the McDonalds to the cinema, which was next door!”) and makes sure that Julie attends both the Sports and Activities Fayres to see what kinds of things campus offers. 

Julie gets used to rising early to make it to class - via the coffee shop, Julie has needs, _okay_ \- and is becoming familiar with several of her classmates (even if she is too nervous to talk to many of them). She enjoys all of her classes, which is saying something considering her musical theatre classes had been so hellish at her previous university. Julie particularly enjoys Musical Writing and Performance class although she is yet to do live performances. 

Luckily, Mrs Harrison (the teacher) was very understanding when Julie and her dad had met with her before the semester had started. Mrs Harrison continues to be encouraging without being pushy and, gradually, Julie was becoming less reserved in class. 

It is doubly lucky, Julie thinks, that she had been paired with Flynn for their first big in class performance. Flynn has been quick to block book one of the musical practice rooms (she makes sure to snag the one with the piano Julie loves) so that the pair of them can practise in a low-stakes way.

So far, they have rewritten one of Double Trouble’s high-school hits - ‘I Got The Music’ - but, three weeks into their rehearsals, Julie is still struggling to do any serious singing or piano playing. Flynn is willing (and talented enough) to carry most of the vocal work, leaving Julie to play the piano and provide backing vocals but, even these small tasks, are proving to be a lot for Julie’s delicate mental state. 

Julie and Flynn spend hours in the music room, carefully treading their way through the intricate music. Flynn’s voice was becoming raw from all of the singing she has been doing in recent days. Julie has so far managed to play three lines of their new song and sung half of a verse; both of these feats occur after nearly two weeks of practise.

“What’s the point?” Julie sighs, rubbing the heels of her hands into her eyes after fumbling the same bar for the third time. “We should just go and tell Mrs Harrisson that I can’t do it, she might move you into a better group.”

“Oh shut up,” Flynn says softly, “we have made loads of progress already. Plus,” she says with a grin, “I’m not giving up on you.”

“But…”

Flynn holds up a hand to cut her off, “Jules, I love you, but seriously, shut up.”

Julie can’t help but laugh incredulously, as she shakes her head, “okay.”

Flynn nods, “let’s take it from the top.”

This time, Julie manages to play eight full lines and bursts into tears with relief.

“You’d better stop crying,” Flynn threatens, “or you’ll set me off and I’m having a good eyeliner day!”

Julie laughs through her tears and the girls try the song again. By the end of the session, Julie has managed to play through half of the song, buoyed on by the support of her best friend and the almost tangible presence of her mum every time she begins to play. Flynn and Julie leave the room as the sun begins to set, arms looped around each other, proud smiles on their faces.

“We’ve got this,” Flynn says. “Double Trouble is back!”

* * *

“What the fuck, Bobby? You were seriously just going to leave without telling us?”

Bobby shrugs, running a hand through his hair, “it’s not that simple, Luke. I can’t pass up this opportunity.” 

“What about our band’s opportunities though?” Luke says, voice wavering with poorly concealed emotion. 

“Yeah,” Reggie adds, “we’ve got that big performance next week!”

Bobby zips up his guitar case and slings the strap over his shoulder as he straightens from where he is crouched on the floor. “I couldn’t say no to being able to record guitar for The Giranimos next album.”

“It’s back-up rhythm guitar,” Alex scoffs, “it’s hardly the big leagues.”

“Plus,” Luke says, “you’re royally screwing us over by leaving six days before our first class show.”

Bobby reaches the door, “I’m sorry guys, I really am but I’ve got to do this.”

Bobby steps through the door and it slams shut behind him, the sound ringing across the otherwise silent room. Alex, Luke and Reggie hover in various spots of the practise room: Alex is still sat behind his drums, sticks held limply in one hand; Reggie has placed his bass flat on the sofa and is twisting his fingers nervously; Luke is pulling his guitar around his body using the strap, rumpling his shirt as he does so. 

The three boys are silent for another long moment, gazes flickering between each other and the now-closed door. Reggie shifts his weight warily between his two feet, scrunching his hands together increasingly intensely as the silence drags on. 

Finally, Alex sighs and says, “fuck him.”

Reggie and Luke look at each other once more before bursting into laughter. A mixture of incredulity and surprise makes them laugh more heartily than they normally would, Alex joins in after a beat and the three continue laughing for a while longer. 

Eventually, Alex, Reggie and Luke manage to pull themselves together and get back to the practise they had abandoned when Bobby had rudely interrupted with his news. The music isn’t as seamless as it usually is, bars come up disappointingly empty, throwing off the sound Sunset Curve have been working on for years. 

The boys play on for another hour or so, struggling and sweating but unable to recapture their true sound. Eventually, Alex passes both of his drumsticks into one hand and pushes back from his drums.

“I think that’s enough for today, guys.”

Reggie snorts, “right, of course. Plus, isn’t tonight your date with Willie?”

Alex flips him off without looking up from where he is placing his equipment away in his backpack.

“It’s a good thing we’re as awesome as we are,” Luke says, grinning, “I bet nobody in class will know we’ve lost a band member.”

“Eh, they will. Bobby is supposed to be in the class.”

Luke waves his hand, dismissing Reggie’s comment, “you know what I mean! Hands in boys: legends on three!”

Alex rolls his eyes but slings his backpack over his shoulder before joining Luke and Reggie in the middle of the room. 

“One, two, three… legends!”

The boys break apart, laughing.

“Now go enjoy your date with Willie,” Luke says, grinning, “just don’t do anything we wouldn’t do!”

“Fuck you both,” Alex shouts over his shoulder as he leaves the studio.

Reggie and Luke put their guitar straps over their shoulders before Luke slings an arm around Reggie’s shoulder, “let’s go re-write this song.”

“I think you mean, let’s go and get some food.”

Luke snorts, “you are correct, Reginald. 100% correct.”

* * *

A new day dawns on campus, golden sun rays glittering on the windows of the music building, filtering into the practice room where Alex, Luke and Reggie are already an hour into their practise. Luke - a boy who normally won’t get out of bed before 11 am unless physically dragged out by Reggie - had woken up his room/band-mates at 6.05 am. 

( _"What on earth are you doing in my room, Patterson?” Alex groans, burying his head under his pillow._

_A bedraggled Reggie stands in Alex’s doorway, having clearly been dragged there by an overly upbeat Luke._

_“We-” Luke gestures to himself and then his two bandmates- “have music to practise! I stayed up all night rewriting ‘Now or Never’ and it’s better than it was before but now we got to go and practise so that we’re ready for the class performance next week because we are Sunset Curve and we are going to fucking rock it!”_

_Alex waves a hand vaguely in Luke’s direction, “you are way too loud for so early in the morning.”_

_“Plus,” Reggie says, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, “it’s an in-class performance. You don’t need to be so hype for it.”_

_“That is where you are both wrong. I am just loud enough and,” Luke says, pausing for emphasis, “all of our performances have to be our best. So... WAKE UP, ALEX!”_

_Alex chucks his pillow at Luke and groans before rolling out of bed, “I’m up, I’m up. Leave me to get dressed in peace, please.”_

_“But you’re just so handsome…”_

_“Get out!”_ )

Luke, Alex and Reggie arrive in the practise room at 7.04am, on the dot. Luke’s enthusiasm has worn off on his friends and all three are keen to get practising the new-version of Now or Never. 

“Right, okay,” Luke says, handing Alex and Reggie copies of the score, “so I’ve changed some things about and rewritten some parts so there shouldn’t be any noticeable gaps now.”

Reggie and Alex take a few moments to study the new song, Reggie practising a couple of the more complex bars as Luke watches them both nervously, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. 

Finally, after what Luke feels is hours (in reality, it has been barely five minutes) Alex and Reggie look at each other before turning their gazes on Luke. Luke holds his breath as both of his bandmates start to grin. 

“This looks great,” Alex says. 

Reggie nods enthusiastically, “yeah, it’s better than the original, dude.”

Luke breathes a sigh of relief, matching their smiles. “Thanks, guys. Now, let’s get practising so we’re perfect for next week!”

Alex and Reggie don’t require any further encouragement; when Luke launches in with the first bar, Reggie and Alex are right with him. The boys stumble a couple of times but, by their fourth run-through of the song, they have it mastered. 

Luke leads them through the song once more, for luck, before he draws the practise to a close.

“Well, guys,” Luke says, “I think we’re going to be fine next week!”

Alex grabs Luke and Reggie in a hug, “we’re going to rock our sophomore music class.”

“You don’t have to make it sound so mundane.”

Reggie laughs, “it’ll be great, Luke. We’ll be great!”

* * *

The day before their class performance sees Flynn and Julie back in the practise room once again. The girls are working hard on their song, Julie is still stumbling over simple bars she could normally play in her sleep. Flynn’s expression grows more and more concerned as the day goes on; she doesn’t want Julie to push herself so hard that she breaks but Flynn also knows Julie will never be the first one to admit defeat.

Sighing heavily as Julie breaks down on the same chord for the fifth time, Flynn moves forward to wrap an arm around Julie’s shoulder.

“You know you don’t need to do this, Jules. We can go and explain to Mrs Harrison, it’ll be fine.”

Julie leans her head into Flynn’s shoulder, “that would mean giving up and I’m not ready to do that.”

“Okay, then let’s not give up. What can we do instead?”

“I don’t know,” Julie says, rubbing her temples.

Flynn considers for a moment before standing up from the piano, dragging Julie with her. “Right, I’m going to sing a bar, you’re going to sing it back.”

Julie groans before nodding.

Flynn rolls her shoulders and begins, “ _Ain't gonna fight it cause it's useless_.” Julie repeats shakily.

“ _I can't get this music out of my head_ ,” Flynn sings and, again, Julie responds with the same line.

The girls continue like this through the whole song, one line at a time. Julie stumbles her way through but, in the end, manages to sing the full song. 

Flynn grins at her and steers Julie back to the piano, “now sit, and let’s do it again.”

The girls begin again, this time when Flynn sings a line, Julie plays and sings it back to her. Julie feels the music building within her and then, suddenly, something snaps. Her fingers take over and she plays the line for Flynn but then just keeps going, her voice coming in strong and pure to accompany it.

Flynn goes silent but Julie, eyes shut and lost in a world of music, doesn’t notice. She continues playing and singing, belting out the rest of the song on her own, feeling the warmth from her fingers travel into the piano keys as the rays of sun streaming through the window flutter pleasantly against her back. 

Flynn sneaks her phone out of her pocket and surreptitiously sets it to record Julie’s performance as she joins in with backing vocals to support the final verse. At the sound of Flynn’s voice, Julie’s eyes pop open and she meets Flynn’s gaze across the top of the piano. The girls grin at each other as they harmonize on the final notes of the song; Julie’s playing fades away as she sits on the piano stool, panting heavily.

“How did I- what just- wha…”

Flynn dashes around the piano and throws herself at Julie, grabbing her best friend in a fierce hug from behind, “you did it, Jules! You did it!”

Julie reaches her arms behind her to return Flynn’s hug as she bursts into tears again. 

Flynn chuckles into Julie’s hair, “again, girl, really? What did I say about crying on my good eyeliner days?”

Julie laughs gently as Flynn places a quick kiss on Julie’s cheek and grabs her hand. She drags Julie from the piano stool and out of the room.

“I say we deserve a girl’s night to relax before our performance tomorrow.”

“Wine, facemasks and Sharknado?”

Flynn grins, “wine, facemasks and Sharknado.”

## \----- part iii -----

Luke, Reggie and Alex pause to let their final notes fade before stepping to the front of the stage, linking hands and taking a bow. The watching class are applauding, shouting and whistling uproariously in appreciation for the musical masterpiece they have just witnessed (Luke describes their performance as a musical masterpiece - Mrs Harrison describes it as “a solid performance, with room for improvement”). Luke and Reggie reverently pack away their instruments before following Alex back to their empty seats, giving high-fives and fist-bumps to their classmates as they pass.

Luke throws himself dramatically onto his seat, managing it carefully so he doesn’t quite fall off the back of his chair onto the floor; Reggie spins his chair around and sits on it backwards; Alex sighs at his best friend's antics before sitting down, tucking one of his long legs underneath him. All three wear matching grins as they settle in to watch the rest of the performances.

“All right, all right, settle down please,” Mrs Harrison calls from the front of the class, “our next performance is Carrie Wilson.”

Carrie saunters confidently onto the stage and the lights dim - somehow Carrie has managed to convince the lighting manager to light her in-class practise. Luke and Reggie roll their eyes; Alex sits forward in his seat, entranced as Carrie begins her performance.

“Some people have too much power,” a female voice whispers from over Luke’s right shoulder.

“How much of Daddy’s money do you think she spent convincing the lighting guy to sit through a sophomore music class?” another voice says, sniggering quietly in the dark.

Luke agrees with the sentiment but doesn’t appreciate the girls speaking over Carrie’s performance so shoots a swift “shush” over his shoulder. 

Alex glances over his shoulder, disbelievingly, “Did Luke Patterson just shush somebody during class?”

“Fuck off,” Luke mutters back, ignoring the increased snickers from the girls behind him.

Carrie’s performance comes to an end and the class break out into enthusiastic applause - not nearly as appreciative as the applause Luke, Reggie and Alex had received, Luke thinks - as Carrie and her backing dancers (where did the backing dancers come from?) soak in the applause before making their way back to their seats.

“Well done, girls,” Mrs Harrison calls, “now, our final performance of the day, Julie and Flynn.”

The two girls make their way to the stage more reluctantly than Carrie had. Luke knows of them both: he has seen Flynn perform in class many times (his friends are even more enthusiastic about their classmate: Alex thinks Flynn is a fashion icon and Reggie has bonded with Flynn over a love of memes) but Julie is more of an unknown to him. 

Julie had transferred from another university for some unknown reason. Julie and Flynn had bonded instantly and the boys now rarely see one without the other - Alex had dug around (by simply asking Flynn - “you know, like a normal person does, Luke”) and found out that Julie and Flynn had been best friends for a long time but had lost touch when Julie had moved away to a different high school and then university - and it appeared that the pair had been overjoyed to be reunited. 

Julie is yet to perform in front of the class and that, combined with her generally quiet demeanour and air of superiority have left Luke with an increasingly bitter feeling about the girl (Alex and Reggie regularly tell him he's being stupid, that he cannot judge Julie because she dresses well and was dropped off in a nice car). Luke assumes Julie is somewhat talented, she must be, in order to be on this music course, but she is the only student who has managed to avoid the mandatory live performances. 

“And she talks about Carrie being privileged,” Luke thinks, annoyed, “she’s just another rich kid who’s here because she thinks music is easy.”

Frustrated, Luke slumps back in his chair, huffing. He normally enjoys Flynn’s performances but this one seems tainted, associations with Julie - who obviously thinks she’s too good to have to perform with the rest of them - are always negative in Luke’s view. 

Reggie and Alex have their gazes fixed on the stage, worry showing on both of their faces. Luke glances across to where Julie and Flynn stand, mere steps from the stage. Flynn is rubbing large circles on Julie’s back as the other girl takes large gulps of air; Julie’s fists are clenching with each breath and, even from the back of the room, Luke can see Julie is trembling. Luke’s frown deepens as he watches the intimate moment, Julie’s reaction to performing is certainly unexpected.

Mrs Harrison begins to make her way towards the girls but, before she’s even made it three steps, Julie turns (pale and shining with sweat) to sprint from the room. Flynn’s hand hangs in the air for a second before it drops, empty, to her side. She speaks quietly to Mrs Harrison for a moment before returning to her seat.

“Oh look,” Carrie snorts, “Julie’s choking again.”

Carrie’s harsh words startle some snickers from the class; Luke, Reggie and Alex remain silent.

Alex opens his mouth to tell Carrie off but is beaten to the punch by a very angry looking Flynn - “fuck you, Carrie!”

Flynn grabs her backpack from her chair, snags Julie’s from where it has been abandoned and strides away across the room, head held high as if she isn’t walking out of class ten minutes early after swearing at a classmate within earshot of their teacher.

“Flynn’s such a badass,” Reggie whispers in awe.

Luke snorts at the expression on his friend’s face, “you think people who don’t tie their shoelaces are badass.”

Reggie coughs to disguise his “fuck off.”

Alex raises an eyebrow at their antics before asking, “Should we be worried about Julie, though?”

Luke and Reggie meet each other’s eyes before turning to Alex and shrugging. 

Alex sighs at their nonchalance, “I don’t even know why I asked.”

* * *

The class ends quickly after Julie and Flynn's unexpected departure, Mrs Harrison excusing them with a final few words of warning - their final performance is due at the end of the year and everyone (she eyes Luke, Reggie and Alex directly) can improve upon the work they produced today. 

"Music," she says, "is ever-evolving. Just because your songs sound good today doesn't mean they are finished pieces. I will be looking for changes and improvements the next time I hear your compositions."

Luke rolls his eyes at her thinly veiled threat. The boys would work on their song, but why mess with perfection? Besides, Luke, Alex and Reggie need all the time they can get working on their other songs - the boys are hoping to finally book another gig after the whole Bobby debacle. 

Luke, Alex and Reggie leave the room together, sauntering out behind all of the other students who are faster to collect their stuff and leave. The boys are discussing when they can next get together to practise (“I can blow off my last class”; “Pretty sure that teacher already thinks you’re dead, Reggie”) when they stumble upon Julie and Flynn breaking apart from a hug outside their next class. 

Julie is grinning brightly at her friend, no trace of her previous emotional turmoil showing on her face, in fact, she looks perfect. Her eyes aren’t wet or red and her skin is warm and golden; Luke takes this as more evidence to the fact that Julie just doesn’t want to have to perform in front of the class, for whatever reason and maybe the whole ‘sprint-from-the-room’ was an act to avoid it. Luke is surprised that Flynn is joining in but, he thinks frowning, maybe Julie has managed to manipulate her into doing it. The thought tastes bitter and wrong, Alex and Reggie (and Luke really) are friends with Flynn and she’s just never seemed like the type of girl to lie down and do what she’s told, but Julie is an unknown quantity. Maybe she’s a master manipulator. 

“Why are you glaring at Julie?” Alex whispers, ducking down to speak directly in Luke’s ear.

Luke pushes his bandmate away before rubbing his ear on his shoulder, “I don’t trust her.”

Reggie rolls his eyes, “you don’t even know her, dude.”

“My gut is telling me not to trust her.”

“Your gut also told us that eating those street-dogs was a good idea,” Alex says, “need I remind you that we spent 48 hours stuck in the bathroom after that particular ‘gut instinct’?”

Luke looks affronted but holds his hands up in surrender, “I still don’t trust her.”

Reggie and Alex meet each other’s gaze over the top of Luke’s head, simultaneously rolling their eyes. Reggie reaches up and pats Luke’s hair condescendingly, “come on, let’s get Mr Paranoid some food.”

“I am offended but I am also hungry so I’m going to ignore your insults right now.”

Luke, Alex and Reggie walk past where Julie and Flynn are standing chatting; Alex carefully steers Luke away from Julie and the boys continue towards the campus cafe.

* * *

Julie raises her eyebrows as she watches the three boys pass, giving her and Flynn a wider than necessary berth. Two of the boys (Alex and Reggie, Julie recognises) wave at Flynn as they pass; the other boy (Luke, Julie thinks) does not wave. In fact, Julie is sure that he is glaring at her and she tells Flynn about her suspicions.

“Oh, that’s just Luke,” Flynn says, gesturing wildly with her hands, “he’s got a very emotive face. Don’t worry about it.”

Julie chews her lip, pondering Flynn’s words. She definitely feels that Luke doesn’t like her: he’d told her off in class earlier and is now glaring at her whilst being frogmarched between his two friends.

“Whatever,” Julie says, pushing away her thoughts of the beanie-clad boy. “I just get the feeling he has a problem with me.”

Flynn laughs as she throws an arm around Julie’s shoulder, “how can he not like you? You’re such a delight!”

Julie wrinkles her nose, “you’re damn right, I am!”

The girls continue walking, Flynn’s arm still around Julie’s shoulders, turning their attention back to their previous conversation, scrolling through the Instagrams of some of their high school classmates.

“Puberty hit Nick like a brick.”

“You always did have a crush on him!”

“I did not!”

“Julie and Nick sitting in a tree,” Flynn sings, cackling as she unwinds her arms from Julie’s shoulders, darting towards her next class.

Julie groans, “I’ll kill you, girl.”

Flynn winks, “you love me too much to do that.” Julie waves as Flynn disappears into her classroom, a victorious grin on her face.

Julie rolls her eyes even though there is no-one around to see it. “Now,” she thinks to herself, “better get myself a coffee before my next class.”

* * *

Julie makes her way across campus towards the small coffee shop, known for its cheap but strong beverages. She admires the campus as she walks. Her previous university had been nice but it was all on city streets, with bleak, grey buildings at every turn. This new campus is full of life - the buildings are mostly positioned around a large, grassy square which is lined with different trees and flowering bushes; in one corner, larger plants line a small gateway that leads through to a botanical garden complete with benches for sitting whenever the weather allows. 

Julie watches as a butterfly floats gently on the breeze before landing on a purple flowering bush. She stands for a moment, mesmerized, before straightening and resuming her walk to the coffee hut.

Julie pushes through the door, inhaling the bitter but strangely pleasant aromas of the small shop. Julie studies the menu quickly, already knowing what she is going to order but double-checking, just in case.

"One double-shot black coffee, single shot of caramel please," Julie says as she steps up to the counter. The barista notes down her order and Julie hands over her money, places a small tip in the jar and takes her place at the back of the line to wait.

Julie mindlessly hums the song she and Flynn were meant to perform at the showcase, Julie's heart aches with guilt as she thinks back to the way she'd abandoned Flynn, potentially ruining her best friend's grades in the class. Julie's head is beginning to throb and she consciously unclenches her jaw: there is no point worrying about it now, Flynn has reassured her as much, and the pair have already talked to Mrs Harrison.

Julie is glad that they still have almost a year left in the class, she has plenty of time to prove herself and get back on stage. She hears her order being called and, sighing deeply, Julie pushes herself off the wall she is leaning against.

Unfortunately, due to Julie's inherent clumsiness, the business of the coffee house and a good helping of rotten luck, the movement causes Julie to bump into the back of the guy in front of her. Julie takes in his attractive arms and his cute orange beanie within the second it takes him to whirl around. Julie is now face-to-face with a pissed off looking Luke (technically she's face to face with his chin but that's not the point).

"What the fuck, dude?" Luke says, quirking a single eyebrow, pulling his now sodden shirt away from his chest.

Julie's face blazes with embarrassment, of course, it would have to be Luke, the one person on campus (aside from Carrie but Carrie doesn’t count) who seems to have a problem with her. 

"I'm so sorry," Julie gushes, "can I get you a napkin?"

Luke blinks slowly before icily saying, "how generous but I'm not sure a single napkin is going to do the job."

"I am sorry, Luke, but I’m not sure what else you want me to say? It was an accident," Julie says, jerking her chin up to meet Luke's angry gaze. "I already said that I'm sorry."

Luke scoffs, "and we all know sorry makes everything magically better."

Julie grabs two napkins - looking pointedly at Luke as she grabs the second one - before slamming then into his chest. "I'm sorry," she stresses, "that I bumped into you and spilled your coffee. Whatever other things you think I should be apologising for are your problem."

Julie storms away to the counter to grab her coffee, taking a second’s pause to add a packet of sugar before securing the lid, turning to walk out of the door and away from Luke.

"You could at least buy me a new coffee!" Luke yells across the shop.

Julie whirls around to face him. She knows he's technically right but she spent the last bit of change buying herself this drink and her student loan doesn't come into her bank for another two days.

Luke raises an eyebrow challengingly as Julie contemplates a solution. An idea forms in her mind and she winds her way back through the crowd.

Julie reaches Luke and, maintaining eye contact the whole time, Julie downs half of her scalding coffee before depositing the cup in Luke's hand.

"Enjoy!" she says, licking a drop of coffee from the corner of her mouth before sarcastically saluting Luke and then disappearing back through the crowd.

"Now, _that_ was a power move," Reggie says, popping up behind Luke, rolling his eyes at his bandmate’s shock. "Are you reconsidering your gut instincts?"

Luke blinks and takes a gulp of Julie's coffee, wincing as he does so. "No, definitely not," he splutters, "anyone who can drink coffee this hot is not to be trusted."

Reggie rolls his eyes, "whatever you say, man. Whatever you say."

Reggie turns and leads Luke over to where Alex has secured them a sofa. Luke barely notices when Alex drags him to sit, he is too fixated gazing at the path Julie had taken.

"I think you're drooling," Alex says, reaching forward to wipe at the corner of Luke's mouth with a napkin. 

"Fuck off," Luke protests. “I am not!”

Reggie and Alex laugh at his indignant tone, "one conversation with Julie and you’re broken. You're in trouble, dude."

Luke takes a sip of his coffee to save him having to respond then launches begins to talk about their upcoming gig, hoping to distract Reggie and Alex. The swift change of topic doesn't go unnoticed by his friends but Alex and Reggie decide to let it go, grinning at each other when Luke gazes at the door again.

"Right," Reggie says, clapping his hands, "I say we start with 'Home Is Where Your Horse Is' and…"

Luke splutters and immediately begins to argue, forgetting all about Julie Molina for the moment.

## \----- part iv -----

Julie doesn’t hate anybody but Julie definitely hates Luke. She watches him often - surreptitiously - as he strides around campus; with a confident swagger and a cocky grin on his face. Ever since the coffee shop incident, Luke has become a permanent blip on Julie’s radar (Alex and Reggie are too, but a little less because Flynn assures her they’re good people). 

Julie watches how Luke interacts with everybody but sees how he keeps them all at arm’s length. Luke seems to have two friends and a bunch of acquaintances who appear to have uses to him. Julie watches Luke flirt with several pretty girls (and a couple of attractive boys) in return for free drinks; she watches him pair up with different people in music class, only for Julie to then find out that the other person is talented in another instrument or has connections to local music venues.

It shouldn’t bother Julie, she’s got enough of her own shit going on to be worried about some unimportant classmate but there is just something about Luke that rubs her the wrong way. 

Her smouldering fury continues to build as Luke keeps doing things to annoy her (Julie thinks he must be doing it deliberately, he’s so damn obnoxious). Julie keeps a mental tally of every encounter she has with Luke and gradually it all stacks up: Luke glares at her after her panic-invoked departure from class and then seethes at her when Julie accidentally spills her coffee on him; Luke deliberately doesn’t hold the door open for her when entering the library; Luke thinks he is god’s gift to music; Luke abandons Reggie and Alex to pair up with another classmate for a composition task; Luke goes out of his way to distract Julie by wearing sleeveless shirts and exposing his arms regardless of the temperature outside. 

If Julie was honest the stupid boy (“with the perfect grin,” Julie admits to herself) infuriates her. It stems from the way he demanded she buy him a new coffee before accepting her apology; her dislike from that incident blooms into hate when Julie watches the arrogance with which Luke performs in music class - accepting high-fives and fist-bumps after _mediocre_ performances. Basically, Julie thinks Luke Patterson is selfish and arrogant and she is sick of being the only one who sees it. 

“Just forget about him, babe,” Flynn says. The girls are huddled in the library, not studying _per se_ , but completing various BuzzFeed quizzes to find their aesthetics, Disney Princess soulmates and which A:TLA characters they are. 

Julie sighs, dragging her hands through the ends of her curls again, “I have forgotten about him. It’s just, who the hell does he think he is? I apologised for the whole coffee thing but now he always looks like I’ve killed a puppy in front of him and honestly, I’m sick of it. He’s an ass.” Julie smacks her forehead onto the table in front of her, eliciting looks from the few other students eager enough to be in the library this early in the day.

Flynn pats the back of Julie’s head comfortingly, “yes he is. A complete ass but-” Julie turns her head the squint at her best friend- “also, what an ass.”

Julie shudders dramatically, wrinkling her nose in disgust, “if only his ass wasn’t also his whole personality.”

Flynn laughs loudly, swinging her long braids over her shoulder, “you can appreciate the wrapper even if the rest is garbage. Now, let’s find out which Hogwarts houses we belong in based on our taste in cocktails.”

Julie rolls her eyes but sits up to join Flynn at the computer screen, focus drawn away from Luke for the moments to choose between a mojito and an old fashioned. 

* * *

Luke, Alex and Reggie are walking down the music corridor, absorbed in their argument about whether ‘Home Is Where Your Horse Is’ is a suitable song to add to their set (Reggie is arguing fervently that it could fit into, and improve, any set they ever play; Alex and Luke are less than convinced).

“Look, Reggie,” Alex sighs, “we’re not saying it’s a bad song, because it’s definitely not bad but…”

Alex holds his hands up in surrender as Reggie whirls towards him. Luke jumps in to save Alex from Reggie’s puppy-dog eyes, “it just doesn’t fit with the sound we’re going for at the moment. It would sound out of place in our set.”

As soon as the words leave Luke’s mouth he realises he has made a mistake - by rushing in to save Alex from the puppy-dog expression, Luke has left himself exposed. Reggie turns to him, pout in full force, looking sadder and sadder until Luke finally caves.

Sighing, Luke finishes, “I promise, we will record ‘Home Is Where Your Horse Is’ if we ever get a record deal.”

Reggie’s pout instantly disappears and he launches himself at Luke, wrapping his arms and legs around his friend, “I knew you had good musical taste, Luke.”

Alex laughs at the ridiculousness of the situation - Luke looks incredulous but wraps his arms around Reggie to stop him falling; Reggie is practically using Luke as a climbing frame; and on either side, other students are passing, shooting them glances that vary from amused, to bemused, to disgusted.

“You’re so weak, man,” Alex says to Luke.

“Like you can resist the puppy-dog eyes,” Luke shoots back.

Reggie untangles himself from Luke and gives them both a triumphant look, “it’s like my superpower.”

“More like your villainous origin story.”

Reggie’s grin grows wider and he grabs Luke and Alex by the shoulders, slinging an arm around each boy, steering them towards the practice room they’d booked.

“You know he’s going to be this smug for the rest of the day now,” Luke says, leaning forward to speak to Alex around Reggie.

Alex rolls his eyes, “you only have yourself to blame! You caved to the puppy eyes!”

The boys keep bickering as they continue down the corridor, Alex - being the most conscientious of the band - has booked the furthest away practice room (they may have received one or two complaints previously for interrupting other rehearsals with their “loud, brash” music).

Soft piano music drifts from the room. The boys look at each other, about to knock on the door when the music punches up a notch and a voice (“the voice of an angel,” Reggie breathes) suddenly crescendos from the other side of the door. Luke, Alex and Reggie freeze, awed by the raw talent they are listening to.

“Who’s that?” Reggie asks, “Have we heard that voice before?”

Luke and Alex shake their heads, that isn’t a voice they’d have forgotten hearing. As they listen, the boys realise the song is an original piece. A powerful, meaningful, haunting original. Reggie, Alex and Luke are frozen to the spot as the final tendrils of music creep through the door to their ears.

_Wake up your dream and make it true_

_Look out, look inside of you_

_When you feel lost_

_Relight that spark, time to come out of the dark_

_Wake up, wake up_

Alex checks the timetable pinned to the door and lets out a stunned breath. Luke and Reggie look to where his finger is pointing, the slot before their time on the timetable.

“That’s Julie?!” Reggie exclaims, tightening his grasp on Luke and Alex’s shoulders. “She’s amazing!”

Luke has always taken people wasting their musical talents personally (as much as Alex and Reggie, and hell, even that therapist he saw twice, have told him that it is a stupid thing to get upset about). Luke thinks about how hard he, Alex and Reggie have had to fight to get to where they are now, what they have all had to sacrifice and Luke knows many musicians have had it even harder than they have. So, when he sees someone supposedly focussing on music but wasting their evident talent, it makes him see red. Luke bursts into the room, followed closely by Alex and Reggie to see Julie sitting at the piano, Flynn standing just behind her. Both girls glance up at the intrusion, relaxing when they recognise the boys from their music class.

“Sorry,” Flynn starts, “we didn’t realize the room...”

Luke cuts her off, directing his heated, accusing gaze at Julie, “I can’t believe you have that talent, that incredible voice and you are just wasting it by not singing or playing anymore. Who even does that?”

Julie glares at Luke, anger heating her blood, “What’s your problem, Luke? What do you even know about my life or my music? Just because I don’t broadcast my issues, doesn’t mean I don’t have any, you dick.”

“Your life must be so fucking tough,” Luke spits. “A gifted musician who gets everything she wants because mummy and daddy buy it all for you. I bet mummy sometimes even writes your lyrics for you because she wouldn’t want you to have to work too hard.”

Flynn looks ready to slap Luke as the words leave his mouth and Julie has the most un-Julie like expression on her face; all warmth has disappeared, and she looks at Luke in disgust, as if he is something on the bottom of her shoe.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Julie seethes, “my mum was very supportive of my music. Or-” she pauses to draw a long breath- “she was up until she died.”

Those words hit Luke like a literal blow to the chest and he stumbles backwards when Julie shoulders him out the way as she charges out of the room.

“Fuck you, Patterson,” Flynn says, stabbing her finger into his chest before hurrying after her best friend. 

“Dude,” Reggie whistles, “you are a complete idiot.”

“Do you actually think before you speak or do you just spew whatever words happen to be in your head at that particular moment?” Alex says.

Luke lowers his head into his palms, cursing softly. “Did you guys know about her mum?”

Reggie shakes his head, “Nope, but I don’t generally go around insulting people based on their family so...”

“I didn’t know either,” Alex says, “but I like Flynn, and she likes Julie, and honestly, Julie seems cool. Her family tree is not something I needed to know.”

Luke glares at his friends, “you two aren’t making me feel any better, you know.”

Reggie grabs both of Luke’s shoulders and forces Luke to make eye contact with him. “That’s because,” Reggie says firmly, “you acted like a complete dickhead. Act like an idiot, get treated like an idiot.”

Luke sighs, burying his head into Reggie’s forearm, “I totally fucked that up, didn’t I?”

Alex and Reggie roll their eyes as Alex says, “100%, man. 100%.”

* * *

Julie and Flynn glare at Luke when he enters the classroom. The pair have created this new routine and both girls have stuck to it rigorously ever since the incident in the music room. Whenever Luke complains to Reggie and Alex, looking for sympathy, they brush him off (“you made your bed, now sleep in it!”; “it’s a good thing Julie’s not a witch, you’d have been seriously cursed”). 

It’s not that Luke doesn’t understand why Julie and Flynn look at him like that. He knows he fucked up but Luke doesn’t know how he will be able to apologise when he can’t even get near Julie. Flynn is acting like Julie’s personal bodyguard - Alex insists she makes a very stylish bodyguard - who folds her arms and frowns at him whenever Luke dares to come within 6 feet. 

In some sort of twisted retaliation, Luke-style, Luke decides that if they won’t let him apologise he’s going to antagonise Julie into coming to talk to him (Luke realises that this idea is sort of ridiculous but to hell with it, he still thinks Julie is stuck up and he’s sick of having to tiptoe around). 

Alex and Reggie think he is an idiot, and they have made sure to tell him that more than once, but Luke will not be deterred. Luke also thinks that Flynn has cottoned on to what he is doing or at least she knows Luke is planning something, judging by the looks she is sending him, but Julie clearly has no idea.

Mrs Harrison has sent them away to work in groups, discussing key musical influences and picking the 5 most influential artists in different genres. Luke finds himself in a group with Julie (plus 8 other classmates but, at the moment, Luke’s sole focus is Julie) and their group has been assigned ‘Rock’ as their genre. 

Luke studies Julie as she sits back and lets their classmates discuss and put forward their initial ideas. Julie quirks her eyebrow when she disagrees and shares a small, close-lipped smile when someone says something she agrees with. 

After five minutes of letting their classmates share ideas, Julie finally sits forward to contribute.

“I think,” she says quietly, “we can’t talk about any of these musicians-” gesturing to the list of names the group has written down- “without going further back into the roots of rock and considering the wonderful jazz and blues musicians who pioneered and helped craft the sound of rock.”

Luke agrees wholeheartedly, he’d spent a lot of time studying exactly those styles of music when he’d first got his guitar; keen to perfect the basics and the intricate skills in order to give him more options in his rock career. However, agreeing with Julie isn’t the plan.

“I don’t think we do,” Luke argues, “we were given Rock as our genre. I think we’d be better sticking to purely rock musicians rather than wasting time looking at older musicians who don’t have any direct relation to rock music.”

Julie looks up, startled, her surprised gaze melting to an angry glare as she realises it’s Luke who has spoken. “You are kidding, right?” she argues, folding her arms across her chest. “You do realise that the foundation of rock music lies in the ‘older musicians’ as you succinctly described them. Without the likes of Thomas A Dorsey, Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters, we wouldn’t have the rock music that you and ‘your band’-” Julie adds air quotes for emphasis- “attempt to play.”

Until now, Luke has been set on deliberately provoking Julie but her derision towards Sunset Curve makes him want to go for the jugular. Luke takes a deep breath, steadying himself - he is trying to get himself out of trouble, not into it.

“Well, that shows how much you know about me and my band,” Luke says, Julie opens her mouth to interrupt but he keeps talking, “but anyway, our inspirations are more like Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles rather than Muddy Waters. I’m not sure we can trust your opinion on rock music anyway, considering you’re a classical pianist.”

Luke sits back, a triumphant grin on his face as Julie turns red, opening and closing her mouth in disbelief.

The other members of their group look awkwardly from Luke to Julie, Julie to Luke and back again, as if waiting for their conversation to continue. When both remain stonily silent, one girl pipes up, “I agree with Julie.”

Julie gives the girl a surprised smile and, when the group go back to discussing which musicians to add to their list, Julie flips her middle finger at him. Luke snorts and rolls his eyes.

The rest of the session continues without input from Luke or Julie but their group ends up picking five musicians that Julie is delighted with (secretly, Luke is delighted too). The lesson draws to a close and Luke helps gather up their paper and pens, depositing them carefully on a table near Mrs Harrison before turning to look for his friends.

Before Luke can make his way back to Alex and Reggie, he feels someone grab his arm and drag him to a halt. Luke whirls around and sees that the small hand on his bicep belongs to Julie.

“What is your problem?!” Julie hisses.

“I wanted to apologise for what I said the other day,” Luke says, looking directly in Julie’s eyes, aiming to look earnest.

“And you thought that the best way to do that was to argue with every single point I made?”

Luke shrugs, unapologetic, “it got you to talk to me, didn’t it?”

Julie throws both of her hands up in exasperation, “you are unbelievable. And you still haven’t actually apologised.”

“You haven’t exactly let me get a word in edgeways.”

Julie pinches the bridge of her nose and breathes heavily, gesturing for Luke to continue with her free hand.

“Julie,” Luke says quietly, “I really am sorry about what I said the other day. I shouldn’t have talked about something I knew nothing about. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you for apologising,” Julie says, “don’t think this lets you off the hook though.”

Luke’s face falls into a small frown. 

“You can put the puppy dog eyes away,” Julie says, sharply. “That’s as good as you’re getting. You’re still an idiot.” She takes a deep breath before fixing her gaze on Luke, “did you even disagree with what I was saying in class today?”

“Nope,” Luke says, deliberately popping the ‘p’. “I thought you made some good points and you actually named some of my favourite artists but, hey, agreeing with you wouldn’t have gotten you to talk to me.

Julie rolls her eyes at Luke, “you are a dick, Patterson.”

Before Luke can open his mouth to say anything else, Julie turns and stalks away towards where Flynn waits at the door. Julie shakes her head when Flynn looks at her quizzically and the girls leave the room, heads bent together, clearly discussing the day’s events.

Reggie and Alex make their way over from where they’d been waiting on the stage. 

“How’d that go?” Reggie asks.

Luke shrugs, “I apologised and she accepted but then she called me a dick so I’m not sure I’m officially forgiven.”

“Well, that’s progress at least,” Alex says.

“And,” Luke continues, “she didn’t even react to my puppy-dog eyes!”

Reggie gasps theatrically, “that means you have made a very powerful enemy.”

Alex snorts as Luke drops his head onto Reggie’s shoulder. Alex pats Luke’s back sympathetically, “at least Flynn might stop trying to use the Force to kill you now.”

“Death would be simpler than this,” Luke says.

Alex and Reggie laugh at their friend’s dramatics, gently leading him out of the music room towards the cafe. Food is definitely the only solution to Luke’s current mood. 

## \----- part v -----

“Today we are going to start a mini-project. You will be working with a partner to compose a song,” Mrs Harrison announces from the front of the room; Alex, Luke and Reggie shoot glances at each other and shrug, nothing they haven’t done before. “But you will be teaching your partner how to play your instrument, and vice versa.”

Luke rolls his eyes, this was an easy task by Mrs Harrison’s standards. Luke’s main instrument is the guitar, obviously, but playing with Reggie and Alex for years has given him the time and tutors to dabble in their instruments too. Plus, Mrs Harrison lets them choose their partners so Luke would probably end up with one of his bandmates. 

Mrs Harrison’s next words dash Luke’s hopes of another easy A: “in addition, I have selected your partners for this assignment.”

A groan sounds from somewhere to Luke’s left, he looks over as finds that Julie has dropped her head into her hands as Flynn watches her, fondly. Luke rolls his eyes at her dramatics, he doesn’t have a problem working with anyone in this class (ignoring the fact that he had done the same thing as Julie when he was paired with Carrie for an assignment last year).

“Come down to the front to receive your composition partners.”

Luke drags himself out of his chair to walk with Reggie and Alex to the front of the room, the three of them pass by Julie and Flynn who have yet to get out of their seats. Luke catches Julie’s eye and shoots her a small smile, which she returns with surprise. Luke focuses his gaze forward again, missing the curious look on Flynn’s face.

It takes a few minutes but finally, Luke reaches the front of the queue, tracing down the list until he finds his name. Biting his lip, Luke traces his finger across from his own name to the name of his partner. He groans when he realises the mess he is now in. Mrs Harrison, it seems, is out to get him.

“Who’d you get?” Reggie asks, peering over Luke’s shoulder before whistling. “Damn dude, good luck with that one.”

Luke nudges Reggie with his shoulder, “you’re too smug for my liking. Who did you get partnered with?”

“Nick.”

“Boring Nick? The one with the fedora?”

“That’s the one. It’s good though, I already play the guitar so I just need to teach him bass and we’ll be golden. You, on the other hand, have a lot of work to do.”

Luke rolls his eyes, “fuck off.”

Reggie snorts as he darts away to find Nick; Luke takes a deep breath before turning to find his partner. He scans the room for any sign of her and finds that she hasn’t moved from where she’s been sat all morning. Bracing himself, Luke walks purposely towards her, grabbing the seat in front of her and sitting on it backwards so he faces Julie.

“It seems like we’re partners, Molina.”

“Oh, joy of joys!”

“Damn, someone got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning.”

“Actually, I was having a perfectly pleasant morning until I discovered I was partnered with an idiot.”

Luke clutches his chest dramatically, “your words wound me.”

Julie rolls her eyes, biting her lip to hide her grin, “let’s just get this over with.”

Luke stands, bowing with an arm outstretched, “lead the way.”

Julie stands, grabbing her pencil and notebook before leading the way to a far corner of the room, where she and Luke can talk in peace. 

When the pair are sitting, side-by-side, Julie flips open her notebook and holds her pen poised over that paper. She waits a moment, watching Luke as he fidgets with his rings before he finally settles and levels her with a gaze.

“You got any ideas, Molina?”

Julie shakes her head, “none that you would like.”

“That seems a bit judgemental,” Luke says, “how do you know I won’t like them?”

“Because you don’t like me, hence my ideas.”

Luke rolls his eyes, “just tell me your ideas, Julie.”

Gritting her teeth, Julie says, “fine. I think we should do something instrumental, no lyrics.”

Luke blinks, surprised, “interesting. Why do you think that?”

“One: it gives us more time to work on teaching each other our instruments; two: we don’t have to try and work together on something super personal like lyrics; and three: if I only have to focus on playing, I might be able to actually get through a song.”

“Three valid points,” Luke says, ticking off three fingers, “instrumental it is.”

Julie smiles, a genuine smile, the corners of her eyes crinkling in delight, “perfect! I take it you’ll be teaching me the guitar and I’ll teach you some piano?”

Luke rolls his eyes, “obviously.”

Julie's smile freezes, “you can’t just get along with me for five minutes?”

“Sorry, sorry. Yes, I’ll teach you guitar and you teach me some piano. We’ll need to write a melody, something that sounds good but is simple enough for us to master in a couple of weeks.”

Julie leans in as Luke begins humming a melody under his breath; she notes down what she hears as Luke sounds it out, adding notes and asterisks to places Julie thinks she needs to add to later. 

Half an hour later, Luke and Julie have a draft melody ready to go. It’s not complete but it’s a start.

Mrs Harrison claps her hands together, drawing the classes attention back to her, “alright class, that’s your time up for today. Take what you have produced today and continue to work on it. You will be presenting these pieces to each other in three weeks.”

Luke looks to Julie as she hands him his copy of their song. “You come up with the guitar chords for this,” Julie says, “I’ll work on the piano part and then we’ll meet next week to swap?”

Luke scratches the back of his neck, “sounds good. I’ll book a music room for next Wednesday?”

Julie nods as she stands, smoothing her shirt as she does so. “Next Wednesday.”

Julie leaves Luke sitting alone on the floor. He looks down at the sheet of music in his hand and smiles; every written note is perfectly neat, each chord idea written in looping script and, in the bottom corner of the page, Julie has doodled a sun with sunglasses and a grin. 

Quashing any feelings that are bubbling within him, Luke pushes himself off of the floor and makes his way to where Alex and Reggie stand, holding Luke’s bag out to him. 

“You’re still alive!” Reggie exclaims.

“I take it that wasn’t too bad,” Alex says.

“Nah, surprisingly, Julie and I work well together. We’ll get this done and hopefully, we’ll both come out unscathed.”

Alex laughs, “there’s that Luke-positivity we all know and love!”

“Now, come on,” Reggie says, “we got a party to get ready for!”

* * *

“I hope you and Alex have told _your idiot_ to be on his best behaviour tonight,” Flynn says, gesturing with her beer bottle to where Luke stands in the corner of the room, “I promised Julie that I had people making sure he wouldn’t be a dickhead to her tonight.”

Reggie laughs, “I’m not sure I’m happy that you’ve dubbed him our idiot but” - he holds his hands up in surrender as Flynn glares sharply at him - “let’s just say that Luke has been warned to behave or face Alex’s wrath.”

Flynn’s brow wrinkles as she snorts in disbelieving amusement, “Alex has a wrath?”

“The worst,” Reggie confirms, “Alex is normally such a mum friend but he has a vicious side and he always knows how to hurt you worst.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it!”

Reggie holds his hand out for a fist-bump which Flynn returns, “just ask Luke about the time Alex removed all of the D strings off of his guitars!”

Reggie spots an opening on the beer-pong table and rushes away to grab Luke, and launch themselves in as the next players at the table.

Flynn rolls her eyes at the pair’s antics before tearing her gaze away to scan the room for Julie. She spots the familiar figure of her best friend in the opposite corner, chatting happily to Alex and Willie. 

Flynn presses her way through the crowd towards Julie. She presses into her friend’s side as arrives, causing Julie to spill some of her drink as she does so.

Julie turns slightly, slinging an arm around Flynn’s shoulder, narrowing her eyes accusingly at her friend, “you just made me spill my drink.”

Flynn giggles at the slight slur in Julie’s voice, “sorry, Jules!”

Julie holds her glare for a couple more seconds before her expression clears and she leans in to kiss Flynn on the cheek.

“You enjoying yourself?” Flynn asks.

“I am,” Julie nods forcefully, “Blondie and the Boyfriend here-” she gestures towards Alex and Willie with her cup, sloshing more of the drink from inside- “having been keeping me company.”

Alex and Willie snort simultaneously; Flynn catches Alex’s eyes and he winks, “more like Julie has been keeping us entertained.”

“Oh, really?”

Alex and Willie share a knowing look and laugh, “she’s got lots of good stories!”

Flynn gives Julie a pointed look which Julie ignores in favour of taking another long sip of her drink before she leans her head into Flynn’s shoulder, tucking under Flynn’s chin, crinkling her now empty cup in her other hand. 

Suddenly, Julie straightens up and looks between Flynn, Alex and Willie, wide-eyed and excited.

“Oh, Flynn,” Julie says, a little too loudly, “how rude of me! This is William and Alexander and-” she drops her voice to a stage-whisper in Flynn’s ear- “they are the cutest boyfriends I’ve ever met.”

Alex and Willie collapse into each other’s chests, shaking with loud laughter; Willie wipes tears from his eyes.

“Honestly,” Alex says, “you’re now one of my favourite people, Julie!”

Julie beams at his compliment and untangles herself from Flynn to throw her arms around Willie and Alex’s shoulders. She kisses them both fiercely on their foreheads before giving them a gentle shove towards the darkest corner of the room.

“Go,” Julie says, flapping her hands to shoo them away, “go away and kiss. I’m living vicariously through you!”

Alex and Willie, still laughing, wave at the girls, leaving Flynn to deal with an overly enthusiastic Julie (Flynn notices that the couple does, in fact, make their way to the dark corner).

Suddenly, Julie gasps and grabs Flynn’s hand, dragging her across the room to the beer pong table (Flynn rolls her eyes but smiles brightly at her friend - Flynn's always a sucker for a drinking game). The girls arrive at the table, just as the previous game is finishing and slot themselves into the empty space.

Julie’s eyes narrow in recognition as she looks across the table at their opponents: Luke and Reggie. Flynn drops her head into her hand with a snort (because, of course, Luke would be right here) before helping Julie to rack up their cups.

With her back turned to the boys, Flynn quietly says, “you still okay to play?”

Julie nods, suddenly more sober, “permission to destroy these fuckers?”

“Permission enthusiastically granted!”

Julie and Flynn high-five before taking up their balls to begin the game.

“Ladies first,” Reggie calls.

Flynn lines up her shot, taking a breath to steady her hand before letting the ball fly: it bounces off the rim of the furthest left cup and disappears onto the floor. Flynn sighs but Julie pats her on the shoulder as she steps up to the table. Julie’s hand is shaking minutely as she lines up her shot, it ricochets off of one rim and straight into the centre cup.

“Drink up, Patterson!”

Luke doesn’t drop Julie’s gaze as he plucks the ball out of the cup, downing the drink in one gulp. He raises a single eyebrow towards Julie, challenging her. Julie sticks her tongue out in response.

“What is happening right now?” Reggie shouts across the table, gesturing between Luke and Julie.

“I have no idea,” Flynn says. “I say we keep playing and see what happens.”

Reggie salutes Flynn before taking aim and shooting his ball towards the girl’s cups - it misses, miserably, and Flynn and Julie celebrate with a quick high-five.

Luke’s brows furrow as he concentrates, lining up his shot and taking aim once, twice, three times…

“Achoo!” Julie sneezes just at the moment Luke releases his shot. It arcs across the table and bounces off the back of the girl’s final cup.

“You cheater, Molina!” Luke says, pointing an accusatory finger at Julie.

Julie looks up at him through her eyelashes, “I would never!”

“You win this round!”

Flynn lines up her second shot, ignoring the staring contest taking place between her teammate and the opposition. Her second shot is more accurate than her first and sails straight into one of the cups; Julie’s shot follows into another cup soon after.

“Two more for you, Patterson!”

“Hey,” Flynn says, “do I not get to decide who drinks my shot?”

Julie gives Flynn a pointed look, “you did decide. We agreed that Luke looks thirsty.”

Flynn sighs and waves her hand, “I guess it’s two more for Luke then!” Flynn then mumbles under her breath, making sure Julie can’t hear her, “but I’m not sure it’s Luke who’s thirsty.”

Reggie laughs at Luke’s expression as he downs two more of the cups, “I think you’re in trouble tonight, man.”

Luke winces as he swallows the last dregs of the second cup, placing both cups upside-down on the table. “I don’t think Molina is as sweet as you say she is, Reggie. I think she’s out for revenge.”

Reggie and Luke clash their ping-pong balls together before Reggie takes his shot, landing it in the cup nearest Flynn; Luke’s ball bounces off the rim off two cups before settling in a third.

“One each, girls,” Reggie says.

Luke glares at his teammate, “you’re supposed to be on my side!”

“I am! But I am not getting involved in whatever feud you and Julie have started.”

Julie sticks her tongue out again as Luke drags his fingers through his hair. “It is so on, Molina!”

“Bring it!”

The game continues, both teams make and miss several shots but Julie seems to be the most consistent and, as a result, Luke is becoming steadily drunker as their first game concludes and then their second game progresses. 

“You...” Luke says, swaying slightly as he glares at Julie across the table, “you are the sneakiest, steady-handiest, curly-hairiest witch around.”

Julie laughs, clutching her sides as she does so, “coming from you, I take that as a compliment!”

Reggie and Flynn exchange amused glances. They are standing to one side of the table, having given up on the game several shots ago - both had been getting thirsty as neither of their partners had been willing to give up any drinks.

“Is it just me or are they literally the same person?” Reggie asks, watching as Luke almost trips over his own feet taking his next shot.

“You’re not wrong,” Flynn says, hiding her face behind her hand as she watches Julie close one eye, then the other before finally giving up and closing both eyes to take her throw. “They are both so stubborn it’s stupid. I don’t even like Luke-” she waves off Reggie’s offended look- “it’s a principle thing, nothing personal, but even I can see there is something there.”

Reggie loops an arm around Flynn's shoulder to whisper conspiratorially in her ear, “Do you think Julie would be willing to take Luke off my hands? He can be such a burden.” Reggie looks back at his bandmate, then at Julie, “you know, I’m sure they wouldn’t notice if we left and got ourselves some drinks.”

Flynn snorts, “I’m sure you’re right, I don’t think they’ve even blinked in the last couple of minutes.”

“Although, I’m not sure we can trust them to get themselves away from the table unharmed. Luke’s looking pretty wobbly!”

Flynn grins wryly and opens her mouth to respond just as Julie yells, “hurry up, Patterson, I’m getting thirsty over here!”

Luke takes a wild throw, missing the table by a wide margin and stumbling into the corner of the table as he does so.

Julie doubles over in laughter as Luke peels himself off of the table, his shirt sticking to various pools of liquid, “shut up and take your damn shot, Molina!”

Julie steadies herself with one hand on the table and launches her shot across the table. It bounces just in front of Luke’s final cup before splashing into the liquid in the bottom (technically the shot shouldn’t count but Julie and Luke are too drunk to remember that, and Reggie and Flynn are bored so they let it slide).

“Haha!” Julie shouts gleefully, launching herself at Flynn who almost collapses under her enthusiasm, luckily Reggie is there to steady the embracing girls.

Luke downs his final cup before staggering over to join them. Reggie, having made sure that Flynn and Julie are still upright, grabs one of Luke’s arms and wraps it around his shoulder. “I suggest we get these two somewhere to sit down.”

“Good idea,” Flynn says, groaning as follows Reggie, dragging a stumbling Julie along with her.

Reggie dumps Luke on the nearest empty sofa (if Reggie chooses to ignore the damp stain on the seat then sue him) before turning to help Flynn deposit Julie in the spot next to Luke. 

Reggie and Flynn laugh lowly when Julie immediately groans, probably feeling the cold wetness of the mystery spill, and turns towards where Luke is slouched. Without opening her eyes, Julie searches along the sofa until she finds Luke’s warmth and then burrows herself into it. Her head is buried into the side of his bare arm, her legs slung across one of Luke’s before disappearing in the gap between his calves. 

Luke, for his part, rolls his head up from where it lolls on the back of the sofa. He opens his eyes briefly, shrugs, and drops his forehead onto the top of Julie’s curls. 

“Hey,” Alex says as he and Willie appear beside Flynn and Reggie, “you guys enjoying-”

“Shhh!” Reggie shushes him. 

Alex raises a questioning eyebrow at Flynn, she inclines her head towards where Luke and Julie are curled together on the sofa.

Willie leans on Alex’s shoulder, “well, that’s the cutest thing we’ve seen all evening.”

Alex rolls his eyes, “you’re such a soft-touch, babe.”

Willie leans over and kisses him on the cheek, “I just wanted to say that before I asked who had the Sharpie.”

Now it’s Flynn’s turn to grin as she withdraws two pens from her pocket, “I like the way you think, young William!”

Flynn passes one pen to Willie and keeps one for herself. The pair glance at each other before advancing on Julie and Luke. Flynn makes a show of measuring Julie’s face with her fingers before starting her art; Willie leaps right in, starting by giving Luke a large, twirling moustache. 

“My turn, my turn,” Reggie says, rushing in and removing the pen from Willie’s hand. “It’s time for the classic.”

“I am going to be so disappointed if you draw a dick on Luke’s face,” Alex says.

“Well, prepare to be devastated.”

Flynn and Willie laugh heartily at Alex and Reggie’s discussion, only quieting when Julie begins to stir. Blearily, Julie opens one eye, sighs and rolls her head back into the crook of Luke’s neck. 

As Julie settles, Flynn holds the pen out to Alex, “your turn, Blondie!”

Alex takes the pen hesitantly, unsure about drawing on the face of a new friend. 

Flynn gives him a shove, winking at him, “I won’t tell her you did it!”

Alex gives her a broad grin, “you promise?”

“I promise.”

Reassured, Alex dives forward and begins his masterpiece on Julie’s face. 

Several minutes later, Reggie and Alex step back, looping their arms around Flynn and Willie respectively.

“I think,” Flynn says, “we can declare this as our finest work.”

The four break into giggles as they admire their handiwork: Luke has a twirling moustache and an impressively detailed penis, which stretches from one cheekbone, across his forehead to the opposite side; Julie has gotten away slightly more lightly: her right cheek is covered in flowers, her eyebrows have been joined together to form one and (courtesy of Alex) her nose has been turned into the back of a person, the tip of her nose forming the buttocks. 

After taking several photos (“for prosperity’s sake”), Alex, Reggie and Willie drag Julie and Luke - who are beginning to stir - off of the sofa. Alex and Willie loop Luke’s arms around their shoulders; Reggie drags Julie’s over one of his. 

“Let’s get these two home,” Alex says, “lead the way, Flynn!”

## \----- part vi -----

The next Wednesday finds Luke and Julie in the practise room together, the final remnants of their friend’s artwork finally removed. 

“Right,” Luke says, “where do we start?”

“Shall we start on the piano and I can teach you that and then we’ll swap?”

“Sounds good.”

Julie raises her eyebrows in shock, she’d been expecting an argument but Luke just shrugs, gesturing for Julie to lead the way. Luke follows Julie and takes a seat next to her on the small stool. The entirety of Luke’s left side is pressed against Julie. Luke chances a glance at Julie, she seems unaffected from their contact so Luke swallows down his nervousness, inclining his head to indicate that Julie should start playing.

Julie plays through the simple tune once, slowly, allowing Luke to follow her fingers as they float across the keys. Once Julie reaches the end of the tune she looks to Luke, who smiles.

“You got that?”

“Eh, roughly?”

Julie grins, “we’ll go with that. Give it a go and I’ll help you.”

Luke takes a breath, tentatively placing his fingers on the keys. Julie grins wryly and places her hands over Luke’s to guide him to the correct keys, “you start here, then move here and finally here. That’s the bridge, and then these two chords-” Julie moves Luke’s hands twice more- “are played through the rest of the melody.”

“That seems achievable,” Luke says, “here, then here, and here, then here?”

Julie nods, “and the final chord is this one. Why don’t you play through those five until you get them and then you can show me the guitar part?”

Luke nods, biting his lip as he focuses on his hand position. Julie watches intently, concentrating on the accuracy of Luke’s hand position as he continues to play. As Luke becomes more fluent, Julie finds her attention drifting from Luke’s hands, up his well-muscled arms, to Luke’s face. Julie studies Luke as his eyebrows crease together in concentration, his tongue peeks out to swipe across his bottom lip before disappearing back behind his teeth, biting his lip. 

Julie feels herself growing warm and her face breaks into a small smile. Drawing a surprised breath, Julie shakes herself and steps away from the piano bench. 

Her sudden movement interrupts Luke who misses his next note, wincing as the piano produces a dull sound. “You okay, Julie?” Luke asks, noticing Julie’s warmed skin-tone. 

Julie turns away from Luke to hide her blush, “yeah, I’m fine, just anxious to get learning my part.”

Luke grins, “let’s get to it then!”

Julie sits on a spot on the sofa, as far away from the piano as possible, taking several deep breaths to steady her racing heart. Luke opens one of the guitar cases he brought with him, withdrawing a well-used acoustic from its case.

“Here,” Luke says, holding the guitar out to Julie, “this was my first ever acoustic. Be gentle with her!”

Julie glances at him, “your guitar is a girl?”

Luke shrugs, “that one, yes, the one I use currently is a boy. It’s just how it is.”

Julie takes the guitar Luke offers and settles it across her lap, waiting as Luke retrieves his own guitar and sits on a chair in front of her, laying the guitar gently on his knee. 

Luke takes the next few moments readjusting Julie’s position, then talking her through the chords he has selected for the song. “That’s it, take your pinky onto the fourth fret, good. Then this next chord, squeeze those fingers together - excellent, Julie, just like that. Now practise switching between the two, perfect” and so on until Julie had memorised the positioning of her fingers.

Luke sits back, satisfied, “now, just like you had me do, keep practising those until you can switch between them smoothly.” Luke watches carefully as Julie furrows her brow, switching between the chords - at first, the transitions are rough and the strings twang off of Julie’s fingers but gradually, under Luke’s scrutinising gaze, Julie’s fingers become more confident and the chord sounds ring out across the music room.

Luke continues to watch, admiring the grace with which Julie’s fingers make the shapes of the chords. Luke grins as he notices the tip of Julie’s tongue peeking out from the corner of her mouth. Something in Luke’s chest clenches as he watches Julie, an unfamiliar, warm sensation spreads outwards from his centre and spreads towards his fingers.

Luke feels his face growing warm and he stands abruptly, knocking over his chair as he does so. Startled, Julie looks up at him, losing her place in the song.

“Sorry,” Luke stutters, “I’ve just remembered I’m late for a… em… band practise!”

“Oh! Okay, no problem. I think I’ve got that now. Do you want your guitar back or can I borrow it to practise on?”

Luke gulps as he zips his guitar back into its case, “you keep it. Use it for the next week or so.”

Julie smiles softly, “thanks, Luke.”

“No problem,” Luke says over his shoulder as he darts out of the room, “bye, Julie!”

Julie rolls her eyes as Luke disappears out of the door, “he’s so weird,” she thinks to herself. Slowly, Julie packs her guitar away in its case, humming her and Luke’s song as she does so. The smile doesn’t drop from Julie’s face the whole walk back to her flat. 

* * *

“Jules, come on! Hurry up, girl!” Flynn shouts.

“I’m coming, I’m coming. Don't get your knickers in a twist!” Julie grabs her bag off of her bed, opening the door and running straight into her best-friend who was clearly seconds from bursting into Julie’s room.

“I love you, Jules, but your time-keeping is appalling.”

Julie rolls her eyes, links arms with Flynn and steers the pair of them out of the front door (Julie remembers to lock the door whilst Flynn is intent on continuing to tell Julie off).

“And now they’ll be waiting for us. I mean, fashionably late is one thing but this is bordering on rude.”

Julie drags Flynn to a stop, “who’s waiting for us? I thought this was a girl’s trip to IKEA.”

Flynn rolls her eyes, “and how do you think we were going to get there? We can’t exactly buy a Grönkulla and take it home on the bus.”

“Flynn,” Julie says sternly, “who exactly did you invite?”

Flynn tosses hair braids over one shoulder. “Now who’s knickers are in a twist?”

Julie narrows her eyes.

“Fine, fine. I invited the boys: Reggie, Alex and Luke. Alex said he might bring Willie too.”

“You invited Luke?!”

“Jesus, Julie, it’s not that big a deal. The boys have a van, we need transport, it’ll be fine. Luke and you have been perfectly civil recently anyway.”

“That’s not -”

“Do you think I’d let him say anything to you anyway?”

Julie sighs, “no.”

“Exactly!” Flynn says, “relax, it’ll be fun!”

Julie allows Flynn to drag her along to the centre of campus. Julie was looking forward to this day, she and Flynn need a few more things to decorate their flat and this three day weekend seemed perfect for an IKEA trip. It would give them time to buy the stuff, get the things built and then reorganise the flat. It had seemed like the perfect plan.

Now though, Julie isn’t so sure. She gets along well enough with Reggie and Alex (well, Julie hasn’t interacted with them that much apart from when she’s slightly drunk at parties); she’s never met Willie sober so she doesn’t have much of an opinion of him, but Luke and her still sneak around each other. Julie accepted Luke’s apology, that’s true, but she still doesn’t trust him, and Julie knows that Luke definitely doesn’t trust her either. Julie was hoping this would be a relaxing day but now she’s going to spend it tiptoeing around Luke.

Rounding the last corner, Julie and Flynn spot Reggie, Alex and Willie leaning against a van in one of the three available parking spots on campus. Julie’s heart clenches when she notices that Luke is absent from the group.

“Morning boys!” Flynn says. Julie gives a small wave.

“Flynn! Julie! Hey!” Reggie says.

“What time do we call this?” Alex asks, raising an eyebrow as he points at his watch.

“Don’t blame me. Miss Molina here has no sense of punctuality at all.”

Julie blushes, glaring at Flynn, “hey! You’re not supposed to betray me like that!”

The rest of the group laugh at Julie’s murderous expression.

Willie steps forward with a warm smile, “don’t worry about it. We always tell Reggie we’re meeting half an hour before we actually are and Alex here cannot remember important dates to save himself!”

“Babe!”

“Damn, Willie, just sell us out why don’t you?”

Julie’s expression brightens and she points at Willie, “you, I like. You can stay.”

“That’s good because today I’m the driver.”

“Even better. Willie gets all the bonus points.”

Reggie leans down to Flynn, “what is Julie talking about?”

Flynn waves him off, “don’t worry about her. Julie gets like this when she’s nervous.”

Alex looks at Julie and Willie who are now leaning in the driver’s door of the van selecting music for the trip, “why is Julie nervous?”

“I told her Luke was coming.”

“Ah,” Alex says, “I thought they were getting along better recently?”

“They are but Julie is stubborn and still holds on to the idea he hates her and she hates him.”

Reggie snorts, “that sounds familiar. If Luke didn’t have his tutoring thing today, he definitely would have told us he was too sick to come today. Honestly, I think he was too afraid to come if Julie was.”

Flynn rolls her eyes as Reggie and Alex laugh, “what a pathetic pair they are.”

Willie leans out of the driver’s side window, “are you guys coming or are Julie and I going alone?”

Alex, Reggie and Flynn dart towards the back of the van, yelping as Willie eases the vehicle forward just as they reach the doors. 

“Not funny, babe!”

“Julie and I disagree!”

Willie stops the van and allows the three of them to get in. Reggie starts up a chant of “IKEA, IKEA!” as Willie pulls the van onto the motorway.

Alex and Flynn look at each other, simultaneously elbowing Reggie in the ribs, “shut up, Reggie!”

* * *

“Right, Julie and Reggie you go and find the bookcase; Alex, Willie and I will get the wardrobe. Meet back here in 20?”

“Hands in guys,” Reggie says, “IKEA on three!”

Alex rolls his eyes, “we’re not doing that Reggie.”

“Why do you hate fun, Alexander?”

Flynn rolls her eyes at Julie before grabbing Alex and Willie’s hand and dragging them away, leaving Julie with a delighted looking Reggie.

“Come on,” Julie says, “I think we need to go this way.”

Reggie shakes his head, “I think you mean we need to go that way.”

Julie glances up at the aisle markers before groaning, “you’re right! Sorry, I should have warned you I have no sense of direction.”

Reggie laughs lightly, wrapping an arm around Julie’s shoulders, “don’t worry. Luke always says I’m like a damn pigeon, I can always find my way around.”

“That’s such a useful skill, Reggie. Glad you won’t let me get lost today.”

“Never. Flynn would kill me if I came back without you.”

Julie snorts, “that’s for sure.”

Julie and Reggie continue down the central aisle, heading in the direction Reggie had selected. Reggie is humming a song under his breath, Julie recognises it as one of Sunset Curve’s songs and the music, combined with Reggie's heavy arm and general warmth, makes Julie relax into his side. Reggie, Julie has realised, is harmless and she enjoys his company.

A grin erupts across Julie’s face as Reggie yelps, spotting a free trolley, dashing towards it and racing back to where Julie stands.

“You want a ride?” Reggie says, gesturing to the flat trolley.

Julie’s smile grows broader as she climbs aboard. Reggie shouts a “choo, choo!” and pushes the trolley forward, carrying Julie towards the bookcase aisle.

Moments later the pair pull into the aisle and Julie stumbles off the front as Reggie pulls to a dramatic stop. Pushing her hair out of her eyes, Julie turns to glare at Reggie, melting immediately when she meets Reggie’s puppy-dog gaze and pouting lip.

“Sorry about that, Julie! Should have warned you!”

Julie laughs, “don’t worry about it. Just make sure we get back in one piece and we’ll be fine.”

Reggie nods, returning her grin before tracing his finger down the item list on one of the shelves. Julie follows him as Reggie heads down the aisle, counting the numbers until they arrive at the shelf he wants.

Looking up, Julie realises that the boxes they need are on a shelf which sits above her head. Reggie seems to have noticed this too, he glances between Julie and the shelf, three times before sighing, “I knew Luke should have come.”

“He’s barely taller than me!”

Reggie shoots a look at Julie, and rolls his eyes, “he’s similarly sensitive about his height.”

Julie flushes red, “shut up!

Reggie laughs delightedly, clutching his sides. Julie resists the urge to stomp her foot, “where is Luke today anyway?”

Reggie wipes his eyes as he replies, “he’s got a tutoring gig this morning.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Yeah, every Saturday morning Luke goes to the rec centre and gives lessons to some of the kids.”

Julie feels warmth begin to spread in her chest at Reggie’s words before she stamps it out quickly. “How’re we going to get that box down?”

Reggie studies the shelf again, “if you stand back there-” he points to a spot on the floor- “I’ll drag this out and pass it to you.”

Julie nods, taking two steps back to stand where Reggie had pointed. Tentatively, Reggie pulls one of the boxes off of the shelf, guiding it gently into Julie’s hands. The pair manage to get it into the trolley without dropping the box; repeating the process once more Julie and Reggie grin at each other. They now have the two boxes they need.

“Let’s go back and see if the others have been as successful as we have,” Reggie says.

Julie follows closely behind him, dragging Reggie by the back of his shirt when he shows interest in some flamingo shaped garden ornaments. Julie is doubly thankful for Reggie when he steers her out of the wrong aisle twice, meaning they make it back to the meeting point just as Flynn, Alex and Willie appear from the other direction.

“Hey, you made it back! Reggie deserves a medal for getting Jules to and from a place.”

Julie rolls her eyes at Flynn but grins all the same, “he did a good job. How did you get on?”

Alex and Willie glance at each other, “Flynn stood to one side and told us how we could do better.”

Flynn shrugs, “when I’m right, I’m right.”

Reggie and Julie giggle at Alex and Willie’s uncertain expressions. 

“Right,” Willie says, “regardless, let’s get this stuff paid for and back to your flat. It’s going to take us forever to build.”

Alex grins wryly, “Julie, Flynn, you are in for a surprise when you see how the three of us work together to put these together.”

Julie’s expression drops to one of concern, Flynn shakes her head.

“You haven’t seen anything until you’ve watched Flynn try to put together flat-pack furniture,” Julie says.

The boys exchange excited glances, “we can’t wait.”

“To the checkouts,” Reggie shouts, pushing his trolley at full speed towards the queue, forcing the rest of the group to chase after him, giggling heartily as they run. 

* * *

“Look, just stop being a wimp and get yourself over here,” Alex hisses down the phone. “We are dying here and we need you.”

Alex pinches the bridge of his nose as he listens to the stream of excuses Luke is currently running through. 

“Uhuh, yeah, I hear you Luke, but you forgot to take into account the fact that I don’t care. You better get your ass here and you better do it now.” 

Alex hangs up before Luke can protest. Turning back to Flynn, he grins, “Luke will be here in ten!”

Flynn laughs, “it sure sounded like he was keen!”

Alex shrugs, “Luke responds best to direct instructions.”

Flynn laughs louder as she reaches up to pat Alex’s shoulder, “you’ve done good work here today, Blondie. Let’s go and see how the others are getting on.”

Alex and Flynn return to where they had abandoned Reggie, Julie and Willie and, by the looks of things, the situation has gotten worse since the pair had left not five minutes before. Willie and Reggie are now lying, upside down on the sofa, discussing the differences between two almost-identical screws, whilst Julie is pacing back and forth on the opposite side of the room, holding two sets of instructions (both for different pieces of furniture, Alex notices). Julie’s glasses have slid down her nose a little, revealing the deep crease that sits between her eyebrows. 

“Luke will be here in ten minutes, guys,” Alex says.

Reggie cheers, “we’re saved!”

Julie glances up sharply, “we are doing just fine on our own.”

“That’s not true, Jules. You work differently to the four of us-” Flynn gestures to herself, Alex, Reggie and Willie- “and, as much as I love you, you’re starting to drive us insane.”

“Oh.”

Reggie sits up, giving Julie a gentle smile, “it’s not a bad thing. You like working in order, the rest of us thrive in chaos. We’re getting in your way more than you’re getting in ours.”

“Plus,” Willie says, “this way we can divide and conquer. You and Luke can build that thing-” Willie gestures to the two unopened boxes on the floor- “and the rest of us can tackle whatever that is supposed to be.”

“Are you sure putting Luke and I in a room with a selection of potential weapons is a good idea?”

Reggie and Flynn glance at each other, grinning broadly, whilst Alex turns to Julie, “just remember, murder is messy and you want your deposit back on this flat.”

Julie laughs, “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind!”

Willie and Reggie roll off of the sofa to drag the two boxes Julie needs through to her bedroom just as a knock sounds on the front door. Julie looks towards Flynn and Alex who both sit down resolutely, Flynn gestures towards the door and raises her eyebrows.

“Fuck you both.”

Julie makes her way to the door, passing Reggie (who gives her a sarcastic salute) and Willie (who gives her a reassuring smile) as she takes a breath to steady her nerves. Opening the door, Julie reveals a rumpled looking Luke on the other side. He shoots her a nervous smile as she invites him in.

Shutting the door behind Luke, Julie says, “so, the others have decided that we should build the wardrobe for my room, and the rest of them-” jerking her thumb towards where they can already hear bickering- “are going to tackle the bookshelves.”

Luke runs his fingers through his hair, “sounds good. Lead the way.”

Julie strides past Luke and leads her through to her room: the walls are plain and white but Julie has tried her best to brighten up the rest of the space; she has a wall, half-filled with polaroids and photographs; far too many scatter cushions on her bed and a keyboard set up in the corner of the room. Julie quickly flicks a few pieces of dirty clothing into the laundry basket before turning back to where Luke hovers in the doorway.

“You can come in you know, you’re not going to be any help standing out there.”

Luke finally enters the room, heading straight towards where the cardboard boxes lie. Dropping to his knees Luke begins to peel one open, “how do you want to do this? Alex and Reggie normally…”

“Do not speak about those heathens. They’re worse than Flynn, diving all in and starting everything at once.”

“Right? It’s impossible to build anything with them. I like to sort everything first then build.”

“Same!” Julie holds her hand out for a high-five, which Luke returns promptly. “You sort the big pieces and I’ll organise the screws.”

Luke and Julie work together in silence for the next few minutes, their concentration only interrupted by distant shouts from their friends - “that piece is clearly upside down, Reginald!”, “that’s because you’re standing on the wrong side, Alexander!”; “Reggie, Alex is right, you’ve built that whole thing upside down”; “don’t take his side, Flynn!”. Minutes later, Julie and Luke rest back on their feet, studying their neatly laid out pieces.

“Are you happy to start at step 1 and go from there?” Julie asks.

“Like any logical human would?” Luke says, “Yes, please. Reggie always starts at step 9 and it is always a disaster.”

“Flynn’s favourite thing is throwing away the instructions and building randomly so…”

Julie rolls her eyes dramatically and Luke laughs, startling Julie into chuckling too. 

“So, step 1.”

Julie and Luke spend the next half an hour or so, meticulously working through the instructions from start to finish. To both of their surprise, they work well together, only butting heads on two occasions: once, when Julie forgets the English for the Allen key and asks Luke to hand her the “llave de tornillo, Luke, the- the screw doer” and it takes several minutes for Julie to articulate what she wants; the second time, Luke insists Julie must have lost the screw he needs before she points out that he has it tucked behind his ear. Other than those two small incidents, Julie and Luke build a complete wardrobe and survive unscathed. Judging by the shouting still echoing through the flat, their friends are not being quite as successful. 

“We should probably go and help them,” Luke says, jerking his head towards the living room.

Julie lies back on the floor. “We could,” she says, “or we could stay here and prove to them how wrong their method is.”

Luke considers this for a moment before joining Julie on the floor, “we’ll give them another fifteen minutes and then we can go and rescue them.”

Julie and Luke lie in silence on the rug, staring up at the ceiling which, Luke now sees, Julie has dotted with glow-in-the-dark stars. The corner of Luke’s mouth quirks into a brief smile: that is just such a Julie thing to do.

“How’re you feeling about our performance on Monday?” Luke says quietly after the silence stretches on a little long for his liking.

Julie shrugs before realising that Luke isn’t looking at her, “yeah, fine I guess. I know we’re both ready and our song is good but the thought of playing in front of everyone makes me want to vomit.”

Luke rolls his head towards her, waiting as Julie mirrors his action before he smiles, “please, do not throw up on my guitar.”

“I’ll do my best!”

“Plus,” Luke says, “I am 100% certain we’re going to rock it so you shouldn’t worry.”

“Just because you’re sure-”

“Julie,” Luke raises his voice to cut her off, “I am 100% certain.”

Julie catches Luke’s eye, holding his gaze for a moment before turning her head back towards the ceiling, “just don’t be too disappointed if it all goes wrong.”

Luke snorts, “it’s fine. I’ll carry the performance anyway.”

Julie laughs and rolls her eyes, “the size of your ego is incredible.”

“Why, thank you!”

“I didn’t mean that as a compliment.”

“I know, but that’s how I’m taking it and I will not be told otherwise.”

Julie continues to giggle, Luke joins in briefly before a shriek erupts from the other side of the flat. Julie turns her head towards Luke and sighs, “I guess that’s our signal to go and help.”

Luke rolls up off the floor, offering Julie a hand to haul her off of the floor. Their hands remain linked for a second after they are both on their feet, Julie and Luke study their linked hands in wonder as another shout erupts from the living room. 

Julie snatches her hand back as she flees towards the sounds of the noise, Luke takes a second to look at his hand again before racing after her. 

Luke takes a moment to study the scene before him as he stands just behind Julie. The bookcase is half-built, screws and cardboard are scattered across the room. Reggie, Alex, Willie and Flynn are engaged in an intense Mario Kart battle and haven’t noticed that Luke and Julie have entered the room.

“What’s going on here?” Julie demands, stepping in front of the tv.

Luke snorts as Reggie slips backwards from where he was perched on the back of the sofa; Alex lets out a squeak and Flynn throws her controller in surprise. Only Willie remains composed under the ferocity of Julie’s glare. 

“We- eh- we got distracted?” Reggie says, peering over the sofa.

“Yeah,” Flynn says, “it was all Alex’s idea.”

“That is not true! I remember you turning the tv on and suggesting we have a break!”

“But you suggested Mario Kart!”

“Actually, that was Willie.”

“Don’t drag me into this!”

Julie catches Luke’s eye across the room and they grin at each other as their friends continue to argue.

“I don’t care who started it,” Julie says, holding her hand up to quiet the others, “I just want the bookcase finished.”

Reggie and Willie nod sheepishly, putting down their controllers and collecting a handful of screws from the floor. Alex and Flynn take a few more seconds to wilt under Julie’s stare but, then, they too begin collecting screws and get back to work.

“You fancy a game, Luke?” Julie says, waving a controller at him.

“You bet!” 

Luke leaps onto the sofa and, having collected her own controller, Julie joins him.

Reggie whines from where he is sitting on the floor, holding a selection of screws, “that’s so unfair!”

“When you guys get your job done,” Luke says, “then you can join us.”

“Yes, Dad,” Alex says, sarcastically.

Julie snorts at Luke’s disgusted expression before turning her attention back to the tv. “And,” she adds, “if it’s not finished in the next hour, none of you will be getting pizza either!”

“But Jules.”

“No buts, Flynn. Those are the rules.”

“Man,” Willie says, “Mum and Dad are so strict.”

Julie and Luke glance at each other, before focussing back on their game. Their friends continue to protest and bicker but, eventually, long after the sun has set, the bookcase is built. 

“See?” Luke says. “That wasn’t so hard was it?”

“Fuck off,” Alex replies. “Just shut up and let me beat you at Mario!”

* * *

Julie gulps another lungful of air, her fingers tapping a nervous rhythm on the smooth edge of the guitar.

“Hey, Molina - Julie,” Luke whispers, “you okay?”

Julie nods shakily, taking another breath but her hand is shaking too much to form the first chord.

“Julie, look at me. You can do this. You’ve played this like a million times. You could play it in your sleep,” Luke pauses, thinking, “turn your chair to face me and then play like you would in the practise room.”

Julie shuffles her chair around, sideways on to the rest of the class, facing directly towards where Luke is sat at the piano. Luke quirks his eyebrows and Julie nods: she’s ready.

“Remember, it’s just us here,” Luke shoots her one final smile and counts them in, “one, two, three, four.”

Luke presses on the first chord, Julie chiming in exactly on her key. Luke shoots her a quick grin before dropping his gaze back to the piano keys. Julie closes her eyes completely, allowing the sound of the piano and guitar to wrap around her, drowning out the quiet disturbances from the watching crowd. 

All too soon, their performance is over. Julie strums the final chord, opening her eyes and immediately meeting Luke’s proud gaze.

Luke stands from the piano, grabbing Julie’s hand to drag her to the front of the stage to bow for the clapping audience. “We did it,” Luke whispers, “you did it.”

Julie squeezes Luke’s hand in thanks before turning away and making her way down the stage steps. Mrs Harrison is waiting at the bottom of the stairs, a delighted smile on her face. 

“It was a brave and interesting choice to go for an instrumental piece,” Mrs Harrison says, “but it paid off. Excellent work from the pair of you!”

Julie and Luke grin at each other, high-fiving before turning away to find their empty seats.

## \----- part vii -----

Luke stumbles as he is pushed roughly into the barred room. Luckily his hands had been uncuffed moments before so he is able to wheel his arms in the air cartoonishly to catch himself before his face meets the concrete floor. 

Luke whirls round to give some choice words to the officer who had launched him into the room but is slammed into by Reggie who has just received similar encouragement into the holding cell. Both boys fall to the floor, Reggie on top of Luke, elbowing Luke painfully in the ribs as he struggles and strains to get up. The pair make it halfway off the floor, Reggie grasping Luke’s hand to haul his friend off the ground when Alex is deposited into the cell, smacking into Reggie’s back causing him to drop Luke’s hand. Luke, for the second time in as many minutes, ends up sprawled, starfish-like on the hard floor. 

“Fuck,” Luke groans, not even bothering to lift his head from where it rests. “You two do more damage than being run over by a herd of elephants.”

Alex and Reggie grin wryly at each other as they each offer Luke a hand and haul him off the floor. Luke dusts himself down, straightening his beanie as his ears tune in to a familiar chuckle behind him. 

Reggie and Alex lock eyes with whoever is laughing and their grins grow wider. Luke turns and sees who exactly has been laughing at him - and it’s the last person he would have expected to see in a police holding cell.

“What’re you doing here, Molina?” he grins at Julie who huddles alone in the corner, picking at the frayed edges of her ripped jeans.

Luke slides himself on the concrete bench next to her, Reggie and Alex seat themselves on her other side. Julie rolls her eyes at the boys but she visibly relaxes in their familiar presence.

“I’m just here for the art,” Julie says, gesturing to the various pieces of graffiti that line the cell walls. 

Reggie bumps his shoulder into Julie’s as he and Alex begin to laugh; Luke grins broadly as he asks, “so, Miss Molina, what do you think of this particular piece?” 

Julie’s eyes follow Luke’s hand to where it points at a crude drawing of a policeman with a particularly small piece of anatomy. Julie snorts and rolls her eyes but rises to the challenge all the same.

“Well, Mr Patterson, the piece of art you are gesturing to is a Cellmate #12 original. Now, of course, the identity of Cellmate #12 remains a mystery to all but their closest allies but we can clearly see they are an artist of exquisite talent. You can tell by the confidence of their lines and the bold use of scale-” Julie points to the rough scratches in the rough brick and the figure’s disproportionately large head and tiny dick- “that Cellmate is a practised artist who exposes contempt for the modern justice system and its systematic mistreatment of the power it holds through his various pieces displayed here in this gallery.”

Julie gestures with a flourish to several other doodles that adorn the walls of the cell.

All three boys are now doubled-over in laughter; simultaneously impressed and amused by the depth of Julie’s assessment. 

“That,” Luke splutters, “was a wonderful assessment. Thank you, Miss Molina.”

“Thank you. I am a woman of many talents! So, what brings you boys to this wonderful establishment?”

The boys immediately grow sombre. Reggie and Luke look to Alex as if waiting for him to talk. Alex refuses to meet anyone’s gaze, twisting his hands together anxiously - usually, he’d fiddle with his fanny pack but that had been taken off him when he was booked into holding.

Luke, Reggie and Julie all wait silently as Alex takes one deep breath, then a second before quietly speaking. “We were on our way to the Pride March, I was wearing my pride flag like a cape and was on the phone to Willie. I told him I loved him and then some guys jumped me. These two are only here because they started fighting with the guys instead of just leaving me and getting away from the police.”

“As if we’d just let anyone hurt you, Alex,” Reggie says loudly, gently grabbing Alex’s face to look him in the eye. 

“Yeah, man. We’re brothers, remember?” Luke reaches over Julie to squeeze Alex’s knee, “Plus, those homophobes had it coming.”

Julie looks at the boys carefully. Alex’s pink shirt is torn, his gay flag face-paint is ruined and he has the beginnings of a black eye; Reggie has a long graze down his arm, a large tear in his already ripped jeans and his painted nails are chipped beyond even his usual level of ‘punk-rock’; Luke’s nose has clearly been bleeding, there is dry blood on his upper lip and his t-shirt dangles by one sleeve. Julie wants to gather them all up but her arms are too short for that so she chooses to wrap herself around Alex instead.

Alex tenses as Julie hugs him, beginning to cry as Reggie strokes his cheek and Luke takes hold of Alex’s hands (which have been scratching up and down Alex’s arms) and squeezes them.

“I couldn’t stand it,” Alex says through his tears, “if one of you got hurt because of me.”

“Hey, hey,” Luke soothes, “we wouldn’t have gotten hurt because of you. You didn’t hurt us, you would never hurt us, Alex.”

“If Luke and I were to die for you, you know we’d be okay with that, right?”

“I wouldn’t be okay with that though! Nobody needs to get hurt for me. I’m not worth it!”

“That is a lie and you know it.”

“Reggie and I would literally die without you. Who would remind us to throw out our food when it goes past the expiration date?”

“Alex,” Julie says softly, “from what I’ve seen of you three, you have the one brain cell of the group. I think you’re definitely worth protecting.”

Alex sniffs loudly, leaning his head into Reggie’s shoulder, “it just doesn’t feel right that other people get hurt for me.”

Luke squeezes Alex’s hands again, “it’s not right people getting hurt, but Reggie and I will defend you until the end. No regrets.”

“Yeah, plus, where would we find another drummer to replace you? Nobody can rock a pink hoodie like you can.”

Alex laughs gently, rolling his eyes at Reggie’s attempts at humour. Alex steadies his breathing, matching it to Luke’s as the cresting wave of anxiety gradually bubbles down to a steady level.

The four teenagers remain sat, woven around Alex for a couple more minutes until the cell-door clangs open again and Flynn is guided into the cell (much more gently than the way the boys had been thrown in not minutes earlier, Luke notes).

“You making friends here already, Jules?”

Julie untangles herself from Alex, “you know me, I make friends wherever I go.”

Flynn blinks in recognition as she sees it’s Luke, Alex and Reggie that Julie is sitting with. She makes her way over, slotting herself on the bench beside Reggie.

“The boys were just telling me they’re in here because they got jumped going to Pride,” Julie says.

“What are the chances of that?”

“I know right? This city must be more homophobic than we thought!”

Alex, Reggie and Luke glance between the two girls and then confusedly at each other. 

“What do you mean?” Alex asks.

“Well,” Flynn says, “that’s why we’re in here too!” Flynn catches Alex’s eye and smiles sadly, “some guy decided he wanted to take offence to Julie and I’s pride flags and then, you know the rest.”

Luke nudges Julie’s shoulder, “you guys okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re fine,” Julie says, “We might be small but we’re feisty.”

“We got away with only a few minor scrapes but the guy decided to call the cops and accuse us of assault, so here we are! The system is so fucked.”

Flynn sits back against the wall with a huff, twirling the ends of her pink shoe-laces between her fingers.

“Amen to that!” Reggie says, reaching across for a fistbump.

The group goes quiet for a moment before Alex asks, “can I ask why you were going to Pride? Just allies or…?”

Flynn grins excitedly, “lesbian and proud, actually!”

Alex brightens at her response before turning to Julie. He smiles at her encouragingly.

“I started going as an ally to that one-” she gestures to Flynn- “but recently I’ve been thinking that I’m bisexual.”

“Hey!” Reggie says, “me too!”

“Me three,” Luke says from beside Julie, giving her shoulder another nudge.

“And I’m gay,” Alex says.

Reggie gasps dramatically as Luke says, “really? We’d never have guessed? You hide it so well!”

The five of them start laughing. The laughter echoes off of the walls, creating a cacophony of happiness. 

“Molina, Julie, you just made bail,” a policeman shouts over the din of the cell, opening the door barely wide enough to stick his head through. “Get over here and let’s go.”

Julie peels herself out of the middle of the group, giving Alex a final hug, squeezes Flynn’s outstretched hand then makes her way to the door, “I’ll see you guys soon!”

The door slams shut behind Julie. Her departure is so abrupt that all of the good feelings from seconds ago vanish. Alex, Luke and Reggie look between each other again but Flynn sinks back onto the bench, leaning her head onto Reggie.

“Why are you so relaxed?” Luke asks. “Julie just abandoned you.”

“Oh hush, Patterson. You really need to stop being so quick to think badly of Jules. She said she’ll see us soon, I trust her.”

With that, Flynn closes her eyes, nestling closer into Reggie’s back. Luke catches Reggie’s eye and Reggie shrugs, “nothing much we can do in here anyway.”

“Reggie is right, Luke. We’re not going to make bail anytime soon so we’re going to have to sit it out until they interview or release us.”

Giving up doesn’t sit well with Luke but, after another cursory glance around the cell, he realises his friends are right. Nobody is coming to bail them out, they’re in this for the long haul.

Alex settles back, leaning against the bricks; Reggie leans into Alex’s shoulder while Luke curls into Alex’s other side. Luke hears Alex and Reggie breathing even out, slowing as they relax into each other, not quite asleep but just on the edge of it.

“Hey Flynn,” Luke murmurs.

“What’s up, Patterson?”

“Why do you have so much faith in Julie?”

Flynn cracks an eye open to look at Luke, Reggie and Alex keep their eyes closed but are clearly listening. “You trust Alex and Reggie with your life, right?”

“Obviously!”

“And why is that? How do you know they won’t let you down?”

Luke thinks for a moment, “because we’re family. We’ve been through everything together.”

“Right - you three are like brothers,” Flynn shrugs, “now you understand Julie and I.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, we grew up together. My family moved in next door to Julie’s and the rest is history,” Flynn says, “we went to kindergarten together, then pre-school, and elementary school too. We got through most of high-school together before Julie moved away when her mum died. We kept in touch but it was rough. Luckily, like you guys, Julie and I are family so we got through it. Together.”

Reggie stirs and asks the question Luke has been afraid to ask, “how did Julie’s mum die?”

Flynn sighs deeply before answering, “it was cancer; took it’s sweet time too. Julie’s mum used to be a singer too. Did you guys know that?-” Flynn shrugs again- “She and Julie used to write and play together and when she died, Julie just kind of lost herself.”

“And that’s why she doesn’t play anymore,” Alex says quietly.

Flynn nods, “she didn’t play for over a year until she came here and we started working together again. It’s been tough but Julie is finally starting to find herself again but she’s not quite there yet.”

Luke swallows down the guilt that rises in his throat, he already knows that he’d got his first impressions of Julie completely wrong but, hearing the details of what Julie has been through, it makes him want to cry and to punch a wall in equal parts.

“And that’s why you’re so protective of Julie,” Luke says quietly, “and why Julie still hasn’t completely forgiven me for what I said.”

Flynn eyes Luke critically, “exactly. You’ve got more work to do to earn my trust. Julie though-” Flynn pauses, turning over the words in her mouth- “that girl can hold a grudge, but she always wants to see the best in people so she’ll probably forgive you pretty soon.”

Luke’s heart lifts at Flynn’s words, “you think so?” (Luke ignores Alex’s raised eyebrows and Reggie’s muttered “simp” with an accompanying grin).

“If I know anything about anything, I know Julie.”

A companionable silence falls over the group, the general hustle of the police office the only sounds in the cell. Luke mulls over what Flynn has just told him, he can feel Julie’s pain resonating in his chest. Luke has a complicated relationship with his own parents but, deep down, Luke knows that they are at the end of the phone if he ever needs them. Luke can’t imagine not having that option.

The group must fall asleep because the next sound they hear is the cell door slamming off the wall followed immediately by Alex’s scream as he slides off the bench onto the floor.

“Is there a Flynn in here?” a uniformed officer yells from the doorway. He flicks through the stack of paperwork in his hand, “and an Alexander, a Reginald and a Lucas?”

Alex bolts upright from the floor; Luke and Reggie give him a hand each to haul him up from the floor. Flynn stands, brushing off the invisible lint on her jeans before striding towards the officer, “I’m Flynn.”

“Alexander.”

“Reginald.”

“My name is actually Luke.”

“Well, regardless of your ‘actual’ names,” the officer says, “you lot are free to go. Your lawyer got all the charges dropped. Make your way to the front desk and collect your belongings.” 

Reggie opens his mouth to question the officer but Alex grabs his hand and Luke gives him a shove from behind, as the three boys follow Flynn out of the cell.

Quickly, the four of them collect their belongings (“my fanny pack!”; “look, Alex, Flynn has a bigger flag than you do!”; “my lucky guitar pick!”) and hurry out of the precinct, determined to make it out of the building before any of the officers decide they’ve made a mistake and lock them back in the cell. 

Reggie races through the door, letting it go so that it shuts in Alex’s face. Reggie drops to his knees just outside the building, “I’d forgotten what the sun felt like!”

Luke and Alex roll their eyes. “We were inside for like, a maximum of 6 hours, Reggie!”

“Just feel the fresh air, Luke. Alex, look at how blue the sky is! The outside world is glorious!”

“A bit over dramatic there, Reggie,” Julie calls as she steps away from where she had been leaning on the side of the building. “Glad you appreciate your new-found freedom!”

Flynn grins, nudging Luke in the ribs (“I told you we could count on her!”) before launching herself into Julie’s arms, “you’re the best, Jules!”

Julie laughs into her friend’s hair, “it was nothing.”

Flynn releases Julie, grabbing Reggie’s offered arm and the pair skip away down the street. 

Alex steps into Julie’s space and quietly asks, “you got us out of there?”

“Technically, my dad did but It’s not a big deal, Alex. It wasn’t right for you to be in there.”

“Still, I know that must not have been easy, or cheap so-”

“Alex, stop. I’m glad I could help,” Julie smiles. “I think Willie would appreciate a call from you.”

Alex’s eyes brighten and he snags his phone from his pocket, already dialling as he heads off down the street after Reggie and Flynn. 

Julie turns to follow but Luke grabs her hand gently, pulling them to a stop and allowing their friends to stride on ahead. Julie turns to face him, confusion clear on her face as she gazes up at Luke.

Luke drops her hand, flexing his fingers in an attempt to lessen the impact of the loss of Julie’s grip. He rubs the back of his neck with his other hand, biting his lip as he does so. 

“Luke?” Julie prompts after a few seconds.

Luke squeezes his eyes shut briefly before catching Julie’s eyes, “I- I just- Julie, I am so sorry for what I said to you that day in the music room. I didn’t mean to hurt you but I did and I cannot apologise enough for my actions. Julie, really, I am so sorry.”

Luke drops his gaze from Julie’s as he feels the heat travel up his neck and spread across his cheeks; twisting his ring around his finger Luke hears Julie begin to laugh lightly. 

Julie reaches up and briefly touches the tips of her fingers to Luke's cheek. Luke raises his eyes from where they are fixed on the floor. His clear blue eyes look so earnest as they meet Julie’s gaze, her honeyed gaze crinkles at the corners where Julie’s smile lifts her cheeks. 

“Thank you, Luke,” Julie says softly. “I appreciate your apology.”

“Does this mean I’m forgiven?”

Julie laughs lightly, “you’re an idiot, Patterson.”

Luke opens his mouth to retort but Julie holds up a hand to cut him off, “you’re an idiot but you’re a genuine, honest idiot and I guess I can give you another chance.”

Julie’s smile grows and Luke’s grin mirrors hers. They stand, face-to-face, scrutinising each other as if each seeing the other for the first time.

“Oi! Luke! Julie!” Alex yells from where he, Reggie and Flynn stand, half a block away. “Are you two coming or what?”

Luke and Julie stare for a moment longer before wrenching their gazes away from each other, starting towards their friends. Julie shoves Lukes shoulder, darting away before he can return the action. Julie whoops delightedly as she sprints towards their friends; Luke laughs loudly before giving chase down the block. 

Julie barrels into Flynn as Luke slams bodily into Alex and Reggie. The group sling their arms around each other's shoulders and continue on the long walk back to campus, intertwined with each other, trading jokes and stories as they walk.

## \----- part viii -----

As it turns out, sharing a police-cell (even if it is only a holding cell) is a wonderful bonding experience. From then on, Alex, Luke and Reggie become Alex, Luke, Reggie, Julie and Flynn. The five of them are rarely seen without the others and end up working together whenever they can. Eventually, it gets to the stage where Mrs Harrison doesn’t bother to ask what groups they will be working in as she knows the five of them will always be together given the choice. 

Julie is happier than she has been in a long time. She has always been grateful for Flynn but there is something refreshing about the presence of the boys; Julie feels like she can finally breathe properly again. Her thoughts still turn to her mother but the memories are now beautiful and golden, raising her spirits rather than ripping at her heart-strings.

As unexpected as it is, Luke ends up being the boys she is closest to. Alex and Reggie are wonderful: Julie loves how sarcastic Alex is and he gives the best advice; Reggie makes Julie laugh, he is so innocent whilst simultaneously having the dirtiest mind, Reggie knows how to draw a laugh out of Julie on her worst days; but Luke is something different. Julie and Luke connect on another level entirely. 

Luke and Julie have spent whole weekends writing songs together. As different as their instruments are, their life experiences are, if not quite parallel, at least something similar. Julie has lost her mum; Luke hasn’t spoken to either of his parents in years as they didn’t support his life choices. Luke and Julie appreciate the same kind of music, follow the same sports teams and similar approaches to building flatpack and writing music. When the pair work together, they can lose several hours without noticing, too intent on listening to and learning from each other. Their partnership is like the moon and the sun: neither one can work without the other. 

Flynn, Reggie and Alex often tease them mercilessly for it, 

“I think we all deserve a night off!” Flynn says. Reggie nods eagerly from where he stands behind her right shoulder.

“But the song-” Julie and Luke both say, gesturing towards the scattered paper that surrounds their spot on the floor.

“That song will still be half-finished in the morning,” Alex says. “Now come on, Willie’s got us access to the club he works at. Get off your asses and let’s go!”

Reluctantly, Julie and Luke accept the hands that Reggie and Alex offer them as Flynn gathers up their song.

“I don’t know how either of you make sense of this mess,” Flynn says, wrinkling her brow as she scans the first sheet of music. “This is chaotic.”

Julie grabs the sheets from Flynn’s grasp and hugs them protectively to her chest, “it works for us.”

Luke grins softly at Julie but drops the smile quickly when Reggie winks at him.

“Whatever you say, Jules. Anyway, boys, we’re going to love you and leave you. We have some beautifying to do!”

Flynn grabs Julie’s hand and drags her from the room, ignoring Julie’s protesting squeaks.

Alex shouts after them, “be there at 8!”

“Hey!” Reggie says, “You told me we were meeting at 7.15.”

Alex levels him with a look, “you will be there for 7.45 at the latest, Reginald, or I will end you.”

Reggie gulps, “yes, boss- I mean, Alex.”

Satisfied, Alex turns to Luke, “I take it you want to go and do some beautifying of your own?”

“I- what- wait, why would I want to do that?”

“Because you’re clearly shooting heart eyes at Julie and this will be the one time she hasn’t seen you in an old beanie and a stained t-shirt?”

Luke glances down at his outfit, “what’s wrong with what I wear?”

“Oh, honey, we do not have time to get into this right now. Let’s go. I want to change before I see Willie.”

Alex leads them out of the room, Luke and Reggie trail behind him.

“Reggie, tell me honestly: is there something wrong with what I wear?”

Reggie gives Luke a long glance, “I think you’re very fashionable!”

“Thanks, dude. So are you!”

Luke and Reggie grin delightedly at each other. Alex looks over his shoulder, rolling his eyes, “you two are both useless. Now, hurry up! There are only two hours until we meet at Willie’s!”

Reggie and Luke roll their eyes at their friend but they quicken their pace, there’s no point getting in Alex’s bad books. Plus, Alex’s right, there is beautifying to be done.

* * *

At 8 pm (and 7 minutes) Julie and Flynn arrive outside the Hollywood Club, the boys are already there, all four of them look good (both Flynn and Julie can admit that). Willie is wearing shorts and a tailored jacket and, surprisingly, it works; Alex is working a pink-silk shirt and tight jeans; Reggie is wearing his usual attire of black - black jeans, black top, black leather jacket but, Julie notices, he is wearing a nicer version of all three items. Julie’s gaze finally travels to Luke. She bites her lip to hide her grin as she takes in his attire. He is wearing some kind of fitted waistcoat (sleeveless, of course) and a pair of tight jeans that do wonders for him. (Luke performs a similarly positive assessment of Julie’s short dress and fishnet tights, she’s also added some coloured streaks to her hair and Luke has to wrench his gaze away before Julie catches him staring).

Ignoring the heat in her cheeks, Julie links her arm through Flynn’s and follows the boys into the club, excited to start their night. 

The group begin with several drinks and a lot of dancing. Julie can’t stifle her laughter as she watches Luke and Reggie’s attempts at dancing (luckily their moves improve as they have a second drink) and Flynn nudges her to bring her attention to Willie and Alex’s actual dance talent. 

The night is a wonderful change of pace for them all; Luke laughs more freely as he watches his friends; Alex and Willie get to spend some much needed time together; Reggie, Julie and Flynn spend time bonding as Flynn and Julie attempt to teach Reggie to dance. Julie hadn’t realised how stressed she was about her upcoming performance until she began dancing, feeling her muscles unwind as she does so. 

Suddenly, Luke, Reggie and Alex tense as they spot Bobby weaving his way through the crowd, pushing people out of the way as he stalks towards the boys. Willie already knows Bobby so he quickly grasps Alex’s hand to keep his boyfriend centred; Flynn and Julie know roughly the Band vs Bobby story but don’t know Bobby by sight. The girls do, however, notice Reggie, Alex and Luke’s tension and Willie’s concerned expression.

“What’s up?” Flynn asks.

Luke jerks his head towards where Bobby is stalking across the floor. “That’s Bobby,” Alex says to clarify the gesture.

“Oh,” Julie says before her eyes widen in recognition, “Oh!”

Julie leans over quickly to whisper in Flynn’s ear; Flynn looks at her and grins, “you sure?”

Julie nods and smirks, “definitely!”

Flynn grabs Luke and Reggie by the hands, twirling around so that Luke and Reggie’s hands are linked to her own and raised above her head, “this way, boys!”

Willie laughs and drags Alex after Flynn and the other boys towards the sofas where they had already deposited their drinks. Flynn navigates her way into the very corner of the sofas, grabbing her glass from the table as she sits.

“Should we get Julie?” Luke asks, jerking his thumb back over his shoulder to where Julie still stands, Bobby almost beside her.

Flynn shakes her head. “Nope,” she says, exaggerating the popping of her lips on the ‘p’.

Flynn relaxes back into her seat, taking a deliberate sip of her drink and waving for the boys to do the same. Willie joins her quickly but Luke, Alex and Reggie remain standing, not entirely confident leaving Julie to face Bobby alone.

"Seriously, guys," Flynn says, grabbing Luke and Reggie's hands again as Willie grabs Alex's, "Julie will be fine. She's like a Pitbull."

The three boys reluctantly sit down beside Flynn on the sofa, but all of them (Flynn included, as much as she claims she's relaxed) keep their eyes on the exchange between Julie and Bobby.

Bobby moves to sidestep Julie, but she's too quick for him, mirroring his step to appear directly in front of him again, deliberately blocking his path through to where Luke, Alex and Reggie sit.

Bobby rolls his eyes and raises a hand to brush Julie out of the way. Quick as a blink, Julie grabs his hand and twists his thumb painfully.

"Did I not make myself clear the first time?" she asks, saccharine sweet. "The boys do not want to see you. Not now, not ever."

She squeezes his thumb tighter to emphasise her point. Bobby swallows and nods his head in assent.

Julie releases Bobby's thumb which he rubs with a grimace, "the guys are lucky to have found such a feisty friend."

"I'm glad we can agree on something," Julie says, taking a step back. "Now kindly fuck off, Bobby."

Luke, Alex and Reggie watch the whole exchange with wide eyes and gaping mouths.

"What the fuck just happened?" Luke asks Flynn.

Flynn shrugs, nonchalantly, "once Julie decides you're her people, she’ll do anything for you."

As Bobby turns tail and flees, Luke and Reggie relax into their seats and take a sip of their own drinks; Alex turns to Willie, intertwining their hands.

Julie watches Bobby slink away into the depths of the crowd before she turns her back and makes her way over to her friends. She bundles onto the sofa between Reggie and Flynn (Luke isn't jealous, definitely not), snagging the drink Flynn hands to her.

"That was amazing," Reggie says, bumping his forehead into Julie’s cheek.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Alex asks.

Julie blushes and shrugs, "that was nothing. Self-defence classes were my go-to thing for a while."

Luke reaches around Reggie to quickly squeeze Julie's hand, "that wasn't nothing. We" - he gestures to himself, Reggie and Alex - "really appreciate you dealing with Bobby for us."

"We're friends now," Julie meets Luke's eyes quickly, "I'd do anything for my friends."

Reggie claps her on her back, "well, I think this calls for another round of drinks!"

"Here's to that," Alex and Willie call, raising their glasses before downing their drinks. The rest of the group follow suit. 

"To Julie!" Flynn calls.

"To Julie," Reggie and Luke echo (Alex and Willie are too busy having a quick kiss to join in, Flynn notices with a wry smile).

* * *

Julie looks upset when she finds them sitting in the coffee shop. She throws herself on the sofa beside Luke with a frustrated rush of breath, swiping at her curls in an irritated way. 

Luke automatically raises his arm up and around her shoulders, allowing Julie to burrow into his side, deliberately ignoring the waggling eyebrows and smirks Reggie, Willie and Alex shoot him from the sofa opposite.

"What happened at your meeting?" Luke asks at the same time Reggie says, "I take it Mrs Harrison didn't give you any helpful suggestions?"

Julie swipes her hair back from her face again, accidentally elbowing Luke in the ribs as she does so. She shoots him an apologetic look (Luke melts a little, not that he'd admit that to anyone (not that his friends don't already know)) before launching into her explanation, barely stopping to draw breath.

"Basically, she suggested that Flynn and I perform as soloists instead of together which I get because I'm holding Flynn back and it would be better for her if she could showcase herself as a solo because then she wouldn't have to deal with me freezing up and ruining her shot but that leaves me as a soloist and I cannot stand up in front of the class as a soloist even the thought of it has me shaking so I don't know what to do."

"Julie," Alex butts in, mostly to force the curly-haired girl to take a breath, "did Mrs Harrison say that you _had_ to perform as a soloist?"

Luke and Reggie shoot quizzical looks at Alex but he keeps all attention on Julie, trying to make it seem casual (Alex keeps playing with Willie's hands to keep himself calm).

"Eh, no. She just recommended that Flynn perform solo and that kind of leaves me without any other options."

Julie blows out another long breath, shrinking back into Luke's side, defeated and exhausted for the moment. Luke gently plays with her hair as he jerks his head at Alex, silently demanding that the other boy explain his idea.

"Later," Alex mouths before turning his attention away from Luke altogether, grabbing Willie's hands and hauling his boyfriend off of the sofa. "Well, boys and Julie, Willie and I are going to love you and leave you. We've got studying to do."

Reggie snorts, "yeah, studying anatomy!"

Luke waggles his eyebrows and laughs heartily, his laughter growing when Julie joins in. 

Alex slaps Reggie and Luke on the back of the head. "I hate you all," Alex scowls as he leaves.

"We love you too," Luke and Reggie chorus back.

Reggie, Luke and Julie waste their free periods chatting music, campus events and upcoming parties they might go to (Luke and Reggie shoot much more enthusiasm for the social events than Julie does). Julie remains buried in Luke's side, narrowly avoiding his hands when he gestures excitedly about some new guitar riff he has written.

Reggie surreptitiously sneaks his phone out of his jacket, and points it at the cosy pair, managing to snag one photo before triggering the flash when he attempts to take a second.

"What the fuck, dude," Luke asks, as Julie sits up abruptly.

Reggie rubs the back of his neck sheepishly, "you two just looked so dang cute."

Julie ducks her head, her curls falling forward to shield her face as Luke drops his face into his hands, red blush creeping up his neck and tinting the tips of his ears.

"What's wrong with those two?" Flynn asks as she appears with two coffee cups and sits down delicately beside Reggie. She slides one cup over to him before leaning back, studying Luke and Julie critically, one delicate eyebrow raised questioningly.

"They're being idiots,* Reggie whispers, deliberately loud enough for Julie to hear.

Flynn snorts, "no change there then."

Julie looks up at her best friend, "hey! You're supposed to be on my side!"

"I'm on your side whenever you're not being an idiot," Flynn shots Julie a blinding smile before taking a sip of her coffee.

Julie glares across the table, first at Flynn then at the cup in Reggie's hand. Her gaze narrows further, "you didn't even bring me a coffee? How come Reggie gets a coffee and I don't?"

Flynn grins again, taking another sip in lieu of answering.

"Fine," Julie huffs, "I'll just go get my own. Luke, you want to go get a cup of coffee?"

Luke's eyes widen slightly before he grins, reaching to grab Julie's outstretched hand as she hauls him off the sofa. "I'd love to."

"Good. Let's leave these two to their shitty instant coffee and go get ourselves a decent cup," Julie's tone is confident and blasé but Flynn and Reggie spot the blush that colours her cheeks.

"Enjoy yourselves!" Flynn shouts.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Reggie adds, winking cheekily as Luke flips him off.

Flynn and Reggie catch each other's eyes and burst into laughter as Julie and Luke leave, still holding hands, trying to look superior but both blushing madly.

"How long do you think it'll take them to figure out they’re dating?" Reggie asks.

"Well," Flynn muses, "Julie is in complete denial Luke would even look at her like that…"

"And Luke's a stubborn ass who won't admit to romantic feelings even if he's written enough songs to fill an entire album."

"So all in all, the wedding will probably be in 2075 and we'll all be old and wrinkly by then," Flynn concludes.

Reggie snorts at that, "so long as I can still flirt with the bridesmaids, I'm okay with that."

Flynn joins him in his laughter, happiness for her best friend warming her more than her coffee. She picks up her phone, unlocking it to reveal the picture Reggie has just sent to her - Julie bundled into Luke's side, legs tucked up on the sofa behind her, Luke's arm draped heavily around her shoulder, hand in Julie's curls. Flynn thinks for a moment before smirking deviously.

"Do you think," she starts, "we would speed the process along if we worked together?"

Reggie matches her grin, eyes bright and eager, "sounds like a plan. We could get Alex and Willie involved too I bet!"

The pair share a high five before Flynn says, "okay, mission one: send this picture to Luke and Julie and ask them to explain how this is platonic."

"I love the way you think, Miss Flynn."

"Why thank you, Reginald. I look forward to working with you." 

Flynn and Reggie unlock their phones, crafting and sending messages to Julie and Luke, respectively. Once finished they turn to each other once more.

"A toast," Reggie says, raising his near-empty coffee cup, "to meddling."

"And to oblivious friends," Flynn toasts, raising her cup to knock it against Reggie's before they both drain their remaining coffee.

* * *

Julie groans as she opens the message from Flynn; Julie rolls her eyes when she sees the picture of her and Luke huddled together on the sofa. The message reads: **platonic, my ass. girl, you need to quit lying to yourself.**

Julie taps out a quick response (‘🖕’) before returning her attention to the steaming cup in front of her. Luke is at the condiments stand pouring an obnoxious amount of sugar into his cup. Julie grins to herself when she spots that he is biting his lip in that familiar (but not attractive, definitely not attractive) way. 

Finally satisfied, Luke grabs his cup and manoeuvres carefully to where Julie is sitting, large glasses perched on her nose, steaming up from the hot vapours of her drink.

“We could have just ordered you a cup of syrup,” Julie says, grinning up at him, “it would have been quicker and cheaper.”

“Haha,” Luke replies sarcastically, dropping down into the chair across the table. “Just because I’m not as bitter as the coffee I drink.”

Julie sticks her tongue out at him, eliciting a stunned laugh from Luke which continues until he checks his phone; the message he sees causes him to groan dramatically.

1 message from _country twit_ 🤠: **dude, you need to cool it with the heart eyes. you’re going to give yourself an aneurysm. (1 attachment)**

Luke snorts and rolls his eyes as he clicks open the photo. He feels his gaze soften as he studies the photo, Julie and him sitting together on the sofa, facing each other, gazes locked. Luke quickly schools his expression into one of mild annoyance as he flips his phone round to show Julie.

“Oh yeah!” she laughs, “Flynn sent me that photo too.”

Luke sighs, “of course she did. That means they are working together on whatever scheme they’ve concocted.”

“Scheme?”

“Reggie loves a scheme,” Luke confirms.

“And Flynn loves to meddle,” Julie says, taking another sip of her coffee before continuing. “We have the worst friends.”

Luke barks out a laugh as Julie chuckles, shaking her head fondly. 

## \----- part ix -----

A week later, Alex’s suspicious activities at the coffee shop become clear. He and Flynn approach Julie before the girls are supposed to start their practise session. Their final musical performance is in two weeks and, although Flynn and Julie can now officially claim they have a completed song, they both know it’s not their best work; it’s not going to get them the grades they need.

“Julie,” Alex starts, “I’ve had an idea about how to help you two in music class. Mrs Harrison is on board so it’s up to you if you want to go ahead or not.”

Julie looks to Flynn who smiles encouragingly, “I think it’s a good idea.”

( _Alex approaches Flynn after a particularly rough music class. Julie had frozen up again and Alex could see the growing frustration in Flynn’s face. He knew she would do anything for Julie but knows that it must be hard for Flynn to see her own success slipping away._

_An idea had popped into Alex’s mind that day in the coffee shop, after Julie and Flynn’s meeting with Mrs Harrison. Alex thought it would solve both Flynn and Julie’s problems but he isn’t one to go behind his friend’s back, so the first thing Alex does (after his date with Willie - he’s not a saint) is find Flynn._

_“Hey,” he says, finally locating a crushed-looking Flynn in the library. “You okay?”_

_Flynn flips her braids out of her face and looks up at Alex, “yeah, I just don’t know what to do.”_

_“About the whole Julie situation?”_

_“Exactly. How do I support her when trying to force her to perform could break her again? But if we don’t perform, we’ll fail the class and I cannot have a failing grade on my transcript.”_

_Alex places a gentle hand on her shoulder, “I think I have an idea that could help with that.”_

_Flynn’s brow wrinkles as she considers Alex’s words, “how?”_

_“I think you should perform as a soloist.”_

_“I can’t leave Julie to perform alone though, you know that.”_

_“That’s not what I’m suggesting,” Alex continues, “I think Julie should join Sunset Curve and perform with us.”_

_Flynn takes a breath, blinking rapidly several times before her face brightens with a huge grin, “that could work.”_ )

Alex takes a breath as he finishes explaining his idea to Julie. Julie is nibbling the skin of her bottom lip as she considers the plan. 

Finally, she looks up at Flynn, “I’m so sorry for letting you down, you’re going to be an amazing soloist.” Julie turns to Alex, “I don’t want to ruin Sunset Curve’s performance though, how do we even know if I can actually perform with you?”

Alex smiles reassuringly, “we don’t. But you come highly recommended-” he grins at Flynn- “and we won’t know until we give it a go.”

Flynn reaches up and gives Julie’s arm a gentle squeeze, “you can do it, Jules.”

Julie smiles back at both Flynn and Alex. Taking a deep breath she says, “when do we start?”

Flynn squeals delightedly. Alex shrugs, “technically we have a band practise going on right now…”

Julie laughs and grabs Alex’s hand, “let’s go then!”

* * *

Reggie and Luke are pacing around the music room, glaring accusingly at the clock which appears to be telling them that Alex - always-on-time-even-when-drunk Alex Mercer - is running 10 minutes late for rehearsals. 

“Do you think he’s ill?”

“Maybe he’s helping a little old lady across the road?”

“Or he and Willie lost track of time?”

“Luke, maybe he’s dead!”

Alex clears his throat in amusement, “I’m only ten minutes late and you guys are planning my funeral!”

Reggie and Luke freeze, looking to Alex like a pair of deer in headlights, before launching themselves at their bandmate.

“He lives!”

Alex staggers under the weight of the two extra bodies he is holding, “not for much longer if you two hug me this tightly!”

Reggie and Luke take a step back, allowing Alex to breathe. Luke scans Alex up and down, “you look fine, and you’re definitely not dead-” he grins- “so why, pray tell, are you late?”

“I have a surprise.”

“Is it a puppy?” Reggie asks excitedly.

“No, it’s not a puppy. Might be better than a puppy.”

“You take that back, nothing is better than a puppy.”

Alex rolls his eyes, “fine. I have a surprise that is almost as good as a puppy.”

With that, Alex opens the door and Julie shyly steps into the room.

“I don’t see a surprise,” Reggie says, frowning, “all I see is Julie. Hi Julie!”

“Hi, Reggie!”

Alex shakes his head, “Julie is the surprise. Remember how we talked about needing something extra in our sound? Well-” he gestures to Julie- “I think Julie is what we’ve been looking for.”

Reggie grins broadly, satisfied with Alex’s explanation; Luke takes a step forward, tilting his head critically as he considers Alex’s words. 

Slowly, Luke begins to grin, “welcome to the band, Julie!”

Julie lets out the breath she hadn’t realised she was holding as Luke continues (“I think we should do Stand Tall - that’s in your vocal range, I think - here, have a look at the music and we’ll give it a go!”). Alex pushes her gently towards the piano before taking up his own position behind the drums.

“Right,” Luke says, clapping his hands together, “I say we run through the song once to let Julie hear it properly and we’ll go from there.”

Julie sits in quiet awe as the boys perform Stand Tall for her. Now that they are all friends, Julie can admit that Sunset Curve is good, like really, really good. Luke is clearly a talented lyricist and all three of them shred on their respective instruments. 

As good as they are, Julie can pick out places in the song where the sound needs rounded out, places where a harmonizing voice would lift the music to another level and each bar she finds empty, Julie automatically fills with her piano or her voice. The version of the song the boys are playing is amazing; the version Julie hears in her head is magical.

The song comes to an end and Julie stands, giving the boys a standing ovation. Luke and Reggie give her a mocking bow as Alex laughs, “so, what do you think?”

“It’s amazing,” Julie gushes, “I do have a couple of suggestions though.”

Luke laughs at that, “of course you do.” He makes his way towards where Julie sits at the piano. “Let’s go through it and see what you’ve got.”

Julie grins and points to the first bar of Luke’s score, “well, let’s start here…”

Luke rolls his eyes, “Alex, Reggie, you guys might want to take a break. I think Julie and I might be a while.”

* * *

Several hours later, Alex and Reggie return to the music room having been summoned by subtle text from Luke (“ **get your asses back here asap, pls and thank you** ”). Popping their heads through the door, Reggie and Alex catch Luke and Julie sitting on the sofa, heads bent together looking suspiciously like they’re holding hands. Julie's head whips up when she hears the door; Luke and Julie spring apart from each other as their bandmates step into the room.

“So,” Alex says, “do we have a song or what?”

Luke and Julie glance at each other, as if sharing a secret, before turning back to Alex and Reggie who wait expectantly. Luke nods, “we have a song.”

Reggie whoops and races towards his bass, slinging it over his shoulder excitedly. He pauses as he notices the other three staring at him, “what? Let’s go, you guys!”

Julie, Luke and Alex laugh at his enthusiasm, making their way to their instruments. Luke counts them in and Julie starts playing, taking a steadying breath as she starts to sing. 

Just as she starts to doubt herself, Alex comes in with his drums, then Reggie on bass and finally, Luke starts strumming and the whole band comes together. The music rises and Julie’s voice rises with it, the traces of doubt she feels dissipate as she meets each of the boys’ eyes in turn. To Julie, it feels like she is meant to be a part of this band. This is where she belongs.

The song comes to an end and the four of them freeze, breathing heavily and glancing at each other. 

“Yeah,” Reggie says breathlessly, “I’d say we have a song!”

Alex comes out from behind his drums and grabs Reggie and Luke in a fierce hug. Julie hovers on the edge until Luke shouts, “get over here, Molina!”

Julie folds herself into the hug and the three boys reach around to pull her in tighter. Julie’s eyes flutter closed as she squeezes her arms around them. 

“I think we should play through that again, just to be sure,” Luke says.

“Way to ruin the moment, Patterson,” Julie says. Reggie and Alex laugh at Luke’s offended expression. “But yeah, let’s go again.”

Luke grins as they all make their way back to their respective places.

“A one, a two, a one, two, three, four!”

* * *

Julie has tears in her eyes as she watches Flynn crushing her performance: her best-friend was born to be a soloist. If there was a spotlight it would rightfully belong to Flynn.

Flynn’s performance comes to an end and Julie’s leaps to her feet, cheering and stomping for all she’s worth. She hears a snort from beside her, glancing down Julie’s see Carrie rolling her eyes but it just makes Julie cheer more loudly. Luke, Reggie and Alex grin up at Julie; whooping and whistling as Flynn makes her way down from the stage. 

“Well done, Flynn,” Mrs Harrison says, “a wonderful solo performance. Next up, Luke, Alex, Reggie and Julie.”

Julie stands, feeling her heart beginning to beat more loudly, and follows the boys towards the stage. When Flynn passes, she grasps Julie’s hand and squeezes it, “you’ve got this, Jules. You’ll kill it.”

Julie shoots her a grateful smile before making her way up the stage steps, settling herself on the piano stool. She gives the boys a few moments to settle behind their instruments before glancing up, meeting each of their gazes in turn. Each of the boys gives her a reassuring smile (Reggie gives her a two thumbs up) so Julie rests her fingers over the first keys. 

Julie takes three long breaths, in and out, in and out, in and out, before pressing the first chord. From that moment, the performance becomes a blur - she hears Alex come in on the drums and assumes that Reggie and Luke chime in on their guitars; she feels the tightening in her chest when she needs to take a breath so she assumes she is actually singing; Julie’s chest loosens again when she hears Luke’s familiar voice, relaxing further when the voices of Reggie and Alex chime in as well; Julie recognises when they reach the final verse as her feelings change: the piano keys are now warm and familiar, her voice is strong and pure. The entire band harmonises on the final lines of the song and Julie feels the tears running down her cheeks.

Blinking rapidly, Julie swipes at the wet tracks down her cheeks, turning back to grin at Alex and Reggie. Finally, Julie’s gaze settles on Luke and she notices he also has tears in his eyes. Julie tilts her head in a silent question, Luke shakes his head before gesturing to her to join them for a bow. 

Shakily, Julie stands up from behind the piano and joins the boys at the front of the stage, tucking herself between Reggie and Luke. The four of them share a delighted grin before bowing for their class, most of whom are sitting in stunned silence (Luke notices several students have their mouths gaping open).

The four of them untangle from each other to descend from the stage, still breathing heavily. Gradually, their classmates begin clapping and the crescendo carries them to their seats.

“Well,” Mrs Harrison says, “that was certainly something. A wonderful way to finish off our class performances. Thank you, Alex, Reggie, Luke and Julie! I wish everyone well and I hope to see many of you in next year’s class.”

The class gives Mrs Harrison a resounding round of applause before gathering their things and departing from the room.

Julie grabs her bag and turns to leave, striding towards where Flynn and the boys are waiting for her. Just as she reaches them, a surprising but familiar voice sounds from behind Julie.

“You guys were really good,” Carrie says. “You wanna perform at my party tomorrow night?”

Julie, Reggie, Alex and Luke glance between each other confusedly as Flynn narrows her eyes at Carrie.

“Why would you offer that?” Flynn asks. “You never share the spotlight.”

Carrie smiles, “you think I want to host the party and perform at it? No, thank you! I’d like to enjoy the evening.”

The three boys nod at Julie’s questioning eyebrow raise, (“a gig is a gig,” Reggie says). She smiles at them all and turns back to Carrie, “we’d love to perform at your party, Carrie.”

“Perfect! I’ll get your names on the list then. See you tomorrow!”

Carrie flounces away leaving a stunned group behind her.

“What just happened?” Alex mumbles.

“I think,” Reggie says, “Julie and the Phantoms just booked their first gig!”

The three boys let out delighted whoops, grabbing Julie and Flynn in a bone-crushing hug, jumping and spinning around as a group.

“I don’t know what is going on here,” Mrs Harrison’s voice breaks into the inside of their huddle, “but can I suggest you take it elsewhere? This is still a classroom!”

Reluctantly, the five teenagers break apart, faces showing various levels of apology and sheepishness.

“Sorry, Mrs Harrison,” Julie says. “We’ll go now!”

Luke, Alex and Reggie grab their bags and head towards the door, Flynn and Julie turn to follow them but Mrs Harrison’s voice stops them.

“Miss Molina,” she says, pausing until Julie comes closer. “Congratulations on finding your voice again.”

Julie feels tears begin to well in her eyes, threatening to spill over her lashes, “thank you, Mrs Harrison.”

The lecturer smiles gently, “now, I believe you deserve to go and celebrate. Enjoy your night, Julie.”

Julie returns her smile before returning away, linking her arm through Flynn’s and making her way out of the classroom. Mrs Harrison watches the girls go, a proud expression on her face as she continues tidying the equipment away, humming Stand Tall quietly under her breath as she goes. 

## \----- part x -----

Cheers erupt as Julie, Luke, Alex and Reggie step down from the make-shift stage. Reggie and Luke lean into the attention, lapping it up, raising their fists and high-fiving people as they pass; Alex and Julie roll their eyes at their friend’s antics, stepping back to let the other boys take the limelight. Alex scans the crowd before he finds Willie and makes his way towards his boyfriend. Julie startles when a pair of arms wrap themselves around her waist, relaxing when Flynn rests her head on Julie’s shoulder. 

“So, you and Luke looked pretty close up there on stage.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Jules,” Flynn spins Julie around and grabs both of her shoulders, “you can lie to yourself but you do not get to lie to me.”

“I just- it’s not- there’s nothing- okay, shut up.”

Flynn squeals gleefully and grabs Julie in another bone-crushing hug. “My girl’s got a crush and his name is-”

“Who has a crush?” Luke says, having made his way back to the girls. 

“Nobody- nothing- not-” Julie stutters, “I’m going to get a drink.”

Julie ducks out of Flynn’s grasp, darting away towards the drinks table.

Luke frowns, “was it something I said?”

Flynn reaches up and pats him on the top of Luke’s hair, “don’t worry you’re pretty, little head about it, Patterson.”

Flynn steps around Luke and makes her way to the drinks table after Julie.

Reggie steps in and places an arm over Luke’s shoulder, “you okay, man?”

“I don’t understand girls.”

“Me neither, dude. Me neither. Let’s get a drink and enjoy the party!”

Luke shoots another confused Luke towards Julie and Flynn before shrugging.

“I’ll figure out what all of that meant later,” Luke thinks to himself as he follows Reggie. “Girls are hard work.”

* * *

Julie is feeling pleasantly floaty by the time the announcement is shouted across the room. She has been drinking and chatting, spending most of her night with Luke: sniggering at Alex and Willie’s lack of subtlety as they look for empty spaces to occupy; giggling as they spot Reggie and Flynn at the drinks table mixing various deadly cocktails; relaxing into easy conversation with each other in the warmth and comfort of the well-worn sofa.

“All right, party people! The time has come to pick your handcuff partner! Remember, whichever pair lasts the longest wins a crate of beer and a $50 Amazon gift card!”

Whistles and shouts spread across the room as the majority of the party-dwellers push their way towards the announcer, digging their hands into a black hat to withdraw small slips of paper. As partners are selected they make their way to a second student, laden with several sets of handcuffs, to receive their own set of handcuffs looped onto their wrists.

Eventually, the crowd dissipates and Julie peels herself off the sofa (closely followed by Luke), making her way across the room to where Flynn waits in line for the hat. Flynn links her arm through Julie’s and the girls wait patiently for their turns. 

Reaching the front of the line, Julie pushes her hand into the offered hat and draws out a slip of paper, Flynn performs the same action beside her. Unfolding her slip of paper, Julie groans at the name she sees.

“Yes!” Flynn shouts, “I got Alex!”

Alex holds his hand out to high-five Flynn and they laugh as they allow the handcuffs to be secured around their wrists.

“I got Luke,” Julie says, trying not to laugh as the aforementioned boy launches himself at her, leaping onto her back. “Bloody hell, Luke! You’re heavier than you look!”

Luke slips off of her back, looking affronted, “it’s 100% muscle, baby!”

Julie shakes her head, giggling at his antics, “you’re such an idiot!”

Luke grabs her hand and holds out their wrists to allow the handcuffs to be tightened around them. He pulls against the cool metal, testing the strength of them, pulling Julie’s hand around as he does so.

“These remind you of another time in your life, Patterson?”

“Wait, how did you-” Luke turns to Julie sharply, beginning to blush before it dawns on him- “oh, you mean the time I was arrested?”

“Of course that’s what I mean. What did you think I was talking about?” Julie asks before holding up her free hand quickly as Luke opens his mouth to reply, “wait, wait, nevermind. I really don’t want to know.”

“Aww, are you jealous?”

“Only in your dreams.”

Julie and Luke continue to argue as Alex and Flynn watch on, amused. Luke ends up taking a step forward at the same time Julie does and the pair end up almost chest to chest, still arguing about Julie’s feelings about Luke’s handcuffing story. 

Reggie and Willie return from the beer pong table, handcuffed together. Alex clears his throat, causing Julie and Luke to snap back to the conversation, taking a step back from each other, blushing furiously. 

“How did you guys get each other?” Alex asks, frowning jealously at Reggie. 

Willie uses his free hand to grab Alex’s, “turns out they had an unequal number of boys and girls sign-up so we got to draw names and I happened to get Reggie.”

“You can’t complain,” Reggie adds, “you got Flynn!”

Luke butts in, “what am I, chopped liver?”

Reggie gives him a long look, “nobody wants to be handcuffed to you and your ego.”

“See?” Julie says, “I drew the short straw!”

Reggie holds his hand out for a high-five. Julie reaches over to give him one but is pulled back by her handcuff. Luke picks her up and starts to carry Julie away from their giggling friends.

“Do not bond with my friends about how much of a burden I am!”

Julie reaches around, still in Luke’s arms, to pat the top of Luke’s head. “It only hurts because it’s true.”

Luke places Julie back on the ground, holding onto her waist as she steadies herself, “I hate you.”

Julie winks at him, “no, you don’t.”

Luke quirks an eyebrow but doesn’t respond. 

“No,” he thinks to himself, “I really don’t.”

* * *

Several hours and many drinks later (Luke and Julie have discovered that they are a killer beer pong team, even when handcuffed together) the pair make their way to the student who declares the game is over. It has been a fun experience, Julie and Luke both agree on that, but Julie is excited to be released so that she can go home with Flynn and discuss her newly confirmed _feelings_ for her former nemesis.

Reggie and Willie, and Alex and Flynn have already been uncuffed and are standing over to one side, rubbing their wrists. Alex and Willie only have eyes for each other but Reggie and Flynn keep glancing, not so surreptitiously, across to where Luke and Julie stand, waiting for their turn to be uncuffed. Julie shrugs it off, not wanting to know what those two are getting up to. 

Finally, Luke and Julie reached the front of the line. Holding out their cuffed hands towards the boy they waited for the moment of release but it never comes. The moment drags on and on as the student digs through his bucket of keys once, twice and finally a third time. Looking sheepish, he meets Julie’s gaze and tells her the bad news.

“You’ve lost our key?!” Julie shouts.

“What kind of idiot does that?” Luke adds.

Both of them stand back and attempt to fold their arms, only to be jerked back by their handcuffs.

“You’re telling me,” Julie says, glaring threateningly, “that I am now handcuffed to Luke Patterson for the foreseeable future?”

“Hey! What’s wrong with me?”

“So many things! But, honestly, this time it’s nothing personal. We have classes to go to!”

“Oh yeah,” Luke says, turning his glare towards the student in front of him. “How’re we going to explain this one to our lecturers?”

The boy shrugs, “pretty sure your lecturers won’t even notice.”

Julie takes a step forward, only held back from prodding the boy in the chest by the hand connected to Luke, “that is so not the point. And you know it!”

The boy shrugs, “I’ll get in touch when we find the key!”

“Wow! What customer service,” Luke says, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

“Worthy of a 5-star review!”

Julie shoots the student a final withering glare before she turns, grabbing Luke’s hand and marches back across the room to their expectant friends. 

Alex takes a pointed glance at their still handcuffed and now grasped hands, “I take it they couldn’t uncuff you?”

“What was your first clue?”

Reggie has a small smile on his face which drops immediately when Luke glares at him; Julie looks at Flynn with a similar glare but her best friend isn’t so quick to hide her amusement. 

“You have something you want to say, Flynn?” Julie asks.

“Nope!” Flynn says, “Smile!”

Flynn whips out her phone and, before Julie can bury her face, she takes a photo of Julie and Luke, handcuffed together sporting matching furious expressions. Flynn snaps a second photo as Julie buries her head in Luke’s upper arm, her unruly curls doing her a favour by swinging forward to hide the rest of her face.

“I guess it’s a good thing you two get along now, eh?” Reggie says.

“You’re a little shit, Reginald!”

Alex grabs Willie with one hand, Reggie with the other and drags them from the room shouting, “remember to behave, you two.”

Flynn follows quickly behind the three boys, blowing a kiss to Julie, “don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, babe.”

Julie groans and squeezes her eyes shut, “we have the worst friends.”

“You got that right!”

“I think I’m over this party now.”

“Yeah, me too. Let’s bounce!”

* * *

Once out on the street, Julie sighs, swallowing down her embarrassment and gestures, accidentally dragging Luke’s hand along with hers, “so, your place or mine?”

“Are you trying to seduce me, Molina?” Luke says with a grin (although Julie notices he is also blushing; the tips of his ears are red which Julie does not - repeat, _does not_ \- find adorable).

“Oh Luke,” Julie says, collapsing dramatically into Luke’s chest, “would you do me the favour of taking me home for the evening?”

Luke laughs at Julie’s antics, rolling his eyes fondly, “I would be honoured.”

“So, your place or mine?”

“My flat is closer.”

“Lead the way then, Patterson.”

Julie and Luke walk down the street together, talking amicably about their classes before moving on to discussing their next gig. After Julie stumbles several times, dragging on the handcuff around their wrists, Luke gently takes her hand, raising his eyebrows at Julie asking permission. She grins eagerly back at him and he tightens his grip on her hand.

Julie loves the way Luke’s hand feels in her own: bigger than hers but not overly large, slightly warm but not clammy; peppered with guitar playing calluses but not rough. Julie brings her other hand across to their joined hands and begins to play with Luke’s thumb ring, leaning further into Luke’s space. Normally, Luke would loop his arm around her shoulders and pull her into his side but, as their hands are bound together, Luke just sighs happily, placing a kiss on the top of Julie’s head as they walk.

Finally, they reach the door for Luke’s flat and, after momentarily fumbling with the keys, he unlocks the door and lets them inside. It’s not the first time Julie has been in his flat (well, his and Alex’s and Reggie’s but, _semantics_ ) but somehow, Julie and Luke both know that this time is different.

“So,” Luke says, running his free hand through his hair, still grasping Julie’s hand with his other, “here we are.”

Julie shuffles her feet awkwardly, “here we are.”

Luke and Julie standing in the hallway for a while longer, looking anywhere but at each other, each waiting for the other to speak.

“Shall we-”

“Let’s just-”

Both Julie and Luke begin speaking at the same time, stopping abruptly when they realise the other is speaking, blushing furiously. Luke rubs the back of his neck as Julie chuckles.

“Let’s just go to bed,” Julie says quietly.

“Good idea.”

Luke leads the way to his bedroom, swiping his abandoned clothes off of his bed and onto the floor, ignoring Julie’s giggles as he drags her around the room in a hurricane of cleaning activity. 

“Did you just forget I’m attached to you or?” Julie says, wiggling their joined hands at Luke when he finally stops tidying.

Luke stutters some sort of response that Julie cannot make out.

“Don’t worry, I think it’s cute.”

Luke turns a violent shade of red and squeaks; Julie clutches her stomach as she laughs (there’s just something about Luke - the cool, guitar-playing, rock-band frontman - squeaking that tickles her fancy). 

“Shut up!” Luke says, cracking a shy smile. “Bathroom first, then sleep!”

Julie and Luke make their way to the small bathroom. Luke stands outside with the door shut as tightly as possible to let Julie use the toilet, they then swap positions to allow Luke to do the same. Luke finds Julie a spare toothbrush and the two of them stand side-by-side in front of the bathroom mirror to brush their teeth - Luke pulls funny faces to get her to laugh but Julie just wrinkles her nose in response.

Soon, the two of them stand together at the end of the bed, eyeing it, unsure, as if it might suddenly transform into something horrendous. 

Julie twists the bottom of her dress between her fingers, “how do you want to do this?”

“I’m happy to sleep on the floor,” Luke shrugs.

“Don’t pretend to be noble,” Julie snorts. “Plus, how would you be on the floor with me on the bed if we are handcuffed together.”

“I just wanted to give you the option!”

“Such a gentleman.”

“Fine. Both of us in the bed then. Do you mind if I lose the jeans?”

Julie blushes, “so long as your boxers stay on we’re golden.”

“Roger that.”

Julie climbs onto the bed first, Luke climbing on clumsily after her. They lie on their backs in the middle of the bed, handcuffed hands next to each other in between them, not holding hands but close enough that the backs of their hands touch with every breath.

“Goodnight, Luke.”

“Sleep tight.”

* * *

The next morning finds Luke and Julie waking up, intertwined with each other. Luke’s head is pillowed on Julie’s curls, and Julie is curled into Luke’s chest; their legs slotted in between each other. The pair wake up slowly before retreating to opposite sides of the bed as they realise their positions. 

Once their blushes have settled, Julie and Luke clamber out of bed and begin fighting over the bathroom before looking at the shower hesitantly.

“I think I can go another day without a shower,” Luke says.

“Oh thank god, not sure I’m sober enough to wrangle that this morning.”

“Cool.”

Both Luke and Julie apply a fresh spray of deodorant, brush their teeth and awkwardly use the toilet, ignoring the fact they haven’t changed clothes since last night. 

“I guess it’s a good thing we don’t have class today,” Julie sighs.

Luke ruffles his hair with his free hand, “there’s a silver lining.”

“Let’s just go meet the boys and hope that guy manages to find the missing key today.”

Julie drags Luke towards the front door (Reggie and Alex must have slept somewhere else last night, Luke thinks to himself) and they walk back out onto the street, retracing their steps from the night before.

* * *

Luke and Julie make their way into the practice room, awkwardly shuffling through the door. Reggie, Alex and Flynn are already there, waiting with grins on their faces for the other two to join them.

“Are you two still in last night's clothes?” Alex asks.

Luke nods as Julie drops her gazes to her stained dress. 

“Look,” Luke says, “can we just get started with practise? Talking about Julie and I’s clothes isn’t going to help us play better.”

The boys nod and make their way to their usual spots. Luke takes up a position on the sofa, resting his guitar on his knee. 

“I can’t play with you standing there,” Luke says, gesturing to his guitar and then to Julie standing awkwardly to the side. 

“Fine. How’s this?” Julie huffs, sitting down on the arm of Luke’s seat, draping her bare legs across his lap. “Happy now?”

Luke swallows, mouth suddenly dry.

“I would say,” Alex says, “Luke is currently very happy!”

Flynn and Reggie wink at each other and all three others start to laugh as Luke and Julie both begin to blush. 

“Well,” Julie says hastily, “do any of you have a better solution?”

Flynn snorts, “no, no. Carry on!” She laughs more and Alex and Reggie join in again.

Luke rolls his eyes and nudges Julie with his elbow, “are you comfy?”

Julie nods, smiling softly so Luke adjusts his guitar and begins to play. Julie lets her arm go loose, allowing Luke to play with as little interference from her as possible.

Since their other bandmates are currently occupied (Alex has collapsed back into the sofa cushions, clutching his stomach and Reggie has fallen to the floor with laughter) Julie and Luke silently agree to practise one of their acoustic pieces, ‘Perfect Harmony’. Julie wrote the song months ago but they have never performed it in front of an audience (“it’s just personal”; “I get it. We can keep it between us.”). 

“Wow,” Reggie breathes as Julie and Luke reach the end of the song.

“Yeah,” Flynn says, “that was amazing, guys.”

Julie shrugs, “it's nothing. Just a little something we started working on after our mini-project.”

Alex shoots a soft smile at Julie, “well, it's a beautiful song.”

Julie blushes and drops her gaze to Luke’s guitar. 

“Thanks, man,” Luke says after a beat of silence. “Are you guys ready to get practising now?”

Alex and Reggie take up their positions with their instruments, Flynn settles herself on the sofa in the corner. 

“Let’s start with Bright and go from there.”

Julie and the boys begin their practise, oblivious to the fact that Flynn is filming the whole set from her space in the corner. A warm smile appears on her face as she watches Julie and Luke, the two of them lost in each other as they duet and harmonise through each of the band’s songs. The handcuff clinks against Luke’s guitar occasionally, but it only makes Flynn grin more. 

* * *

Heading back to Luke’s flat after band practise feels bigger than even the previous night's walk had felt. Jule is aware that her palm is sweating; Luke is exactly matching Julie’s speed, carefully avoiding looking at her as a blush bubble just below the surface waiting to reveal itself. Their linked hands brush tentatively over each other with each stride Julie and Luke take.

The pair haven’t uttered a word to each other since they left practise, both have lots to say but neither Luke nor Julie can figure out quite how to word their thoughts. Thankfully, the walk from campus to Luke’s flat is short and, soon enough, they arrive back in Luke’s room.

Luke rubs the back of his neck with his free hand, “I’m sorry to say this but I need a shower.”

Julie wrinkles her nose, amused, “you can say that again!”

“I’m not that bad, am I?” Luke lifts his arm and sniffs dramatically, “no, you’re right, that’s bad.”

Luke quickly shucks off his jeans and socks but gets stuck when he tries to remove his t-shirt. He can’t get the material over his head with one hand and, even if he could, there’s no way to get it over the handcuff. 

In a moment of insanity, Luke grabs the scissors from his desk and shears one side of his t-shirt. Julie watches in fascination as Luke’s shirt flutters to the floor, one whole side completely cut open. Julie’s eyes spring to Luke’s bare chest, which she spares a lingering glance before she wrenches her eyes up to Luke’s face. Luke looks simultaneously insane and delighted, one of his eyebrows quirks upwards as he watches Julie studying his body.

“Why did you do that?” Julie asks.

“I don’t know, I just panicked!”

“Well, stop panicking and put down the damn scissors, Patterson.”

Luke grins wider as he places the scissors down on the desk.

“You’re crazy, Luke.”

Luke shrugs, “we’re all a little crazy!”

Julie studies Luke again, the adrenaline from the moment gradually fading. Gently, Luke takes Julie’s hand and leads her to the bathroom.

“Right,” Luke says, peeling back the shower curtain, “you’ll need to stand there. I’ll try not to splash you too much!”

“You’d better not!” Julie glares at Luke’s grin.

“I promise I’ll behave.”

Luke steps into the shower, pulling the curtain shut behind him before shucking off his boxers. Grinning to himself, Luke flicks his boxers over the top of the curtain, laughing delightedly when Julie shrieks.

“You’re such a child, Luke.”

Luke laughs louder and steps under the stream of water, reaching for the shampoo to wash his hair. As he lathers the gel into his hair, Luke hears Julie flush the toilet and, not a breath later, the stream of water turns to ice; a thousand needles splash down Luke’s back; now it’s his turn to shout.

Over Luke’s screams, he can hear Julie’s tinkling laugh and, if Luke wasn’t so focussed on avoiding the stream of water, he would have stopped to marvel at the sound.

“That’s what you get for throwing your boxers at me!”

“Okay, okay, let’s call a truce!”

The rest of Luke’s shower passes without incident. Luckily, he showers quickly so Julie’s arm only just begins to cramp up by the time Luke finishes. 

“Can you pass me a towel, Jules?”

Julie picks up the biggest towel from the rack and passes it behind the curtain. Her handcuffed hand is jerked a few times as Luke wraps the towel around himself before emerging from the shower. 

Julie pointedly looks away from the droplets of water tracking their way down Luke’s toned arms; Luke bites his lips to stop himself giggling at Julie’s haughty expression. Quickly, Julie leads Luke from the bathroom, drawing to a stop beside his wardrobe. 

Turning away to allow Luke a small semblance of privacy to get into his pyjamas, Julie studies a photo on Luke’s bedside table: it shows Luke, surrounded by 10 or 12 children, all beaming at the camera, holding guitars. “Who’re they?”

Luke leans over Julie’s shoulder, peering at the photo, “they’re the kids I teach guitar too at the rec centre. That was our Christmas performance two or three years ago.”

“They look so happy. I wouldn’t have pegged you as the teacher-type though.”

Luke shrugs, “I love working with the kids and it’s one of the things I love most about music. It connects people, you know? It’s like, you can disagree with someone about so many things-” Luke grins as he gestures between himself and Julie- “but if you can involve music, that can all be overcome.”

Julie chews her bottom lip for a moment, “I was wrong about you, Luke.”

Luke shrugs, “I think we were both wrong about each other. We know better now.”

Julie blushes but holds Luke’s gaze, grasping his cuffed hand gently, “I’m really glad we’re friends. Thank you for helping me find my voice again.”

Luke squeezes her hand, smiling gently, “you need to give yourself more credit, Jules. You’re too talented to waste it, we - Alex, Reggie and I - are glad we could help but you could be a seriously amazing soloist if that’s what you want-” Luke shrugs, “you’re like a human wrecking ball.”

Julie reaches up with her unlinked hand to cup Luke’s cheek, “music isn’t worth making, if I’m not making it with you, Luke.” She blushes a deeper shade of red, “you and the rest of the band of course.”

“Of course,” Luke says, catching Julie’s hand in his own, bringing it to his mouth where Luke kisses Julie’s palm softly. 

The pair remain sat, facing each other, cuffed hands grasped; Julie’s other hand softly cupping Luke’s cheek as he strokes the inside of her wrist. Gradually, Julie’s eyes begin to droop as the promise of sleep overtakes her.

“Go to sleep, Jules,” Luke says gently, following her down so they are lying face-to-face. Luke brushes a curl out of Julie’s eyes, tracing down the slope of her jaw, stroking his thumb across her bottom lip. “We can talk more in the morning.”

Julie blinks slowly as her breathing begins to steady. “I can’t believe how wrong I was about you, Luke,” she says quietly, “You make me better.”

Julie’s eyes slide shut as Luke leans over to place a kiss on her forehead, nosing her unruly curls gently. “I think we make each other better,” Luke sighs, studying Julie’s face once more before succumbing to her warmth, as it lulls him to sleep. 

* * *

Julie wakes up before Luke, taking a few seconds to study his face in the first rays of sunlight. Julie reaches forward to brush the tips of her fingers down Luke’s face, beginning at his hairline and following the curves of his face until Julie reaches his chin. Luke sighs in his sleep, his eyelids flutter but do not open. Julie withdraws her hand and smiles before she clutches her hand back to her chest, her eyes growing wide.

“Oh fuck,” Julie mumbles to herself.

Reaching behind her, Julie feels around for her phone. Quickly she unlocks it and clumsily, using only her free hand, Julie types a message to Flynn: **911! you were right about luke. i need to see you asap.**

Julie only has time for a few panicked breaths before her phone bleeps, 1 new notification. Unlocking it, Julie clicks on the message and it opens: **jules, breathe and kudos for finally admitting it. meet me at the campus green and we’ll talk.**

Julie replies with a simple heart emoji, takes a breath through her nose before gently shaking Luke’s shoulder.

“Luke,” she whispers, “you’ve got to get up now.”

Luke groans, capturing her hand from his shoulder and holding it to his chest, “shush, Julie. Five more minutes.”

Before Julie has time to respond, Luke’s breathing has even out again and he has fallen back to sleep. She rolls her eyes fondly before leaning forward, closer to Luke’s face before lifting her head to blow in his ear. “Luke, we’ve got to go.”

“You’re worse than Reggie.”

Julie laughs, shoving both hands into Luke’s chest, “whatever it takes to get you to wake up. I’ve got to meet Flynn on campus soon.”

Luke manages to catch himself just as Julie pushes him to the edge of the bed; his eyes spring open, locking with Julie’s as he teeters on the edge of the mattress. “Definitely worse,” Luke groans, sitting up and sliding his feet out from under the duvet, Julie follows quickly behind. 

“Let’s just get to campus and see Flynn. Then we can go for pizza or something.”

Luke’s eyes brighten at her suggestion, “I’m holding you to that, Jules!”

* * *

Half an hour later, dressed and semi-presentable, Julie and Luke make their way to the campus green. Julie narrows her eyes in confusion as she spots Flynn waiting with Reggie, Alex and Willie (the waiting group’s gaze zeroes in on Julie and Luke’s intertwined grasp and blushing faces). 

“I thought you said you were meeting Flynn,” Luke says.

“I am. Maybe this is just a coincidence?”

Luke snorts, “no way. There’s something suspicious going on.”

Julie glances at him quickly before returning her gaze to their friends.

Julie watches closely as Flynn reaches into her pocket with a grin. Withdrawing her hand, Flynn reveals a small silver key.

Julie rushes towards Flynn dragging a bewildered Luke behind her, snatches the key out of Flynn’s hand and unlocks her handcuff. She rubs the skin of her wrist briefly before unlocking Luke’s side of the cuff, gently squeezing his hand reassuringly before whirling back to Flynn.

“What the fuck, Flynn?”

Flynn shrugs and grins, unashamedly, “Best £20 I ever spent.”

Julie glares at Flynn, who grins back unashamed, “if you and Luke weren’t so stubborn it wouldn’t have come to this.”

Julie and Luke gape silently for a moment. 

“That is not the point!” Julie finally says. “We tried to shower like this! Luke had to cut one of his favourite tops in half!” Luke sighs mournfully.

“You realise you can get tops off through handcuffs, right?” Alex says.

“Yes, thank you, Alex. We realised that after my shirt was already ruined.”

“The point is,” Reggie interjects, “Alex and Willie own Flynn and me a three-course meal.”

Luke strides forward to poke Reggie in the chest, glaring at Alex over Reggie’s shoulder, “you were both in on this?”

Alex barks a laugh as Reggie grabs Luke in a headlock and musses his hair. 

“Of course I was!” Reggie says, “You can just call me Cupid.”

Luke manages to wriggle free of his friend’s hold, glancing at Flynn as he runs his fingers through his hair in an attempt to smooth it.

“Aren’t you going to give me the ‘if you hurt my best friend, I’ll kill you’ talk?”

Flynn snorts, “why? Julie is perfectly capable of killing you herself, should the need arise.”

“And we would support her in the murder, if it was justified,” Alex says.

Luke laughs and makes his way back to Julie’s side, grinning, “we have the worst friends.”

“I told you!”

Luke smiles softly and grabs Julie’s hand, “I suppose we have to give them some credit though.”

“Oh,” Julie says beaming at him, “and why would we do that?”

“Because without them I’d never have done this.”

Luke leans down and places a gentle kiss on Julie’s forehead; she rolls her eyes before reaching around to grab the back of his head, dragging him down for a proper kiss.

Breaking apart, Julie leans her forehead on Luke’s, ignoring the cheering and high-fiving of their friends in the background. Luke whispers, “yeah, that was nice. Can we do that again?”

Julie grins. “Definitely,” she says, reaching up on her tiptoes as Luke swoops down to capture Julie’s lips once more. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this as part of the [JATP Secret Santa](https://jatpsecretsanta.tumblr.com/) for [captainkippen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainkippen/) (p.s. check out all of their work)
> 
> i rushed this a little to get it done so if you spot any errors or anything, that's why (i'm also currently hopped up on flu medication as a bonus). i will probably go back and edit this again at some point but for now, i hope you all enjoy!
> 
> happy holidays/merry christmas to you all!


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